I went to another really interesting Scotland study visit the other weekend which was the exhibition ‘Here Comes Everybody’ by kennardphillipps (a collaborative practice of Peter Kennard and Cat Phillipps). It is being held at the Stills Centre for Photography in Edinburgh between 31 July and 25 October 2015.
I think that it is easier to repeat the introduction information issued by Stills than try to explain the work myself, and then I will go on to describe my reaction to the work:
The exhibition includes a major new installation consisting of an accumulation of photographic imagery, photomontage, digital prints, newspapers and found materials, exploring ideas around image consumption, production and surveillance.
The work in the exhibition was installation based with pallet crates used to creates structures upon which some of their work was loosely hung. There appears no precision in their work and there is quite a distressed sense to it all. I quite liked how whilst walking through the work you became engrossed within it and began to pick up on the political messages behind the work without having to direct your attention to any particular piece. In contrast though, there were also two videos installations shown in a separate room. Whilst I still got something from these, for me they were a little too direct in their political message, to the extent that I felt that they were quite advertorial in their presentation.
We were so privileged while we were looking at this work that the artist Peter Kennard came in and joined our discussions. It was great to get a sense of the artist himself and how this work wasn’t created just to make a point to others but that the work was also expressing something about himself and his own values. It was interesting to read elsewhere that neither Peter or Cat create work to make money, both of them have other jobs that help to supplement their livelihood; Peter is an educator and Cat is a printer. They both make the work because they feel impelled to do so and it is great to see how this comes out in their work through the freedom of expression and ability to play with the materials to create something – the Stills leaflet is keen to give us Peter’s year of birth as 1949, yet he has no inhibitions about playing with papier-mâché, prints and pallet crates to create an absorbing installation.
One of the key things that I took from this visit, other than the lesson to give yourself the freedom to play when creating work, is how politically motivated Peter and Cat are. They state in the Stills leaflet that they both “see the work as the visual arm of protest”. I know that my work has a political element to it yet I have been reluctant to be too expressive about this, however, this has certainly given me food for thought and some ideas on that aspect which I might think about incorporating.
Major Project 