A Piece of Something Bigger officially begins showing in the New Adelphi Exhibition Gallery, coinciding with the University of Salford Degree Show, on Thursday 23rd May 2024!
Flanagan’s film explores contemporary masculinity through the prism of package holiday culture. Flanagan looks at the ideas entrenched in the male gender stereotype that saturated his youth as a way of disentangling himself. Misunderstood and under pressure to conform and perform, he studies a tension from his own experience between one’s own consciousness and social expectation.
As part of the Degree Show opening night the New Adelphi Exhibition Gallery will remain open until 8:30pm, giving you plenty of time to experience Flanagan’s film. More information about the Degree Show here.
If you can’t attend in person, be sure to check out the online showing of the film below, this link also provides you with more information about Flanagan’s film!
Next month, Hybrid Futures: Making, Showing and Collecting Art in a Time of Climate Crisis, will be hosted in Salford. This symposium will see a day of activity and conversation around the ambitious three-year hybrid Futures project.
What are the environmental issues currently facing museum collections, art galleries and artists?
Is it possible to make your work more sustainable in the visual arts sector?
How can arts organisations and their local communities work together to influence change?
Is there the potential to test ideas and new ways of working in order to create a robust and effective model to change the way that galleries should operate in the future?
Installation View: Hybrid Futures at Salford Museum & Art Gallery, 2024. Photography by Jules Lister.
Join us and our Hybrid Futures partners, along with the Hybrid Futures artists (Shezad Dawood, Jessica El Mal, Parham Ghalamdar & RA Walden), commissioners, local authority staff, funders, community members and consultants, for a day of conversation and activity; sharing our learning and exploring together actions our sector can take to create enduring and effective models of sustainable practice for galleries and museums.
You will leave having met like-minded colleagues and equipped with practical knowledge and encouragement to make changes and take action.
We’re delighted to share with you some of the names who will be a part of the day’s programming on the 10th of May.
Speakers and convenors:
Kit Abramson, Collective Futures, Creative Producer; Paulette Brien, Grundy Art Gallery; Rachael Burns, Touchstones Rochdale; Danny Chivers, Hybrid Futures Sustainability Advisor (Gallery Climate Coalition); Helen Cooper, Senior Manager, Philanthropy/Visual Arts, Arts Council England; Claire Corrin, Salford Museum and Art Gallery; Shezad Dawood, Hybrid Futures lead artist; Paul Dennett, Salford City Mayor; Mark Doyle, Touchstones Rochdale; Jessica El Mal, Hybrid Futures artist; Parham Ghalamdar, Hybrid Futures artist; Mishka Henner, Artist in Residence at Energy House 2.0, University of Salford; Matthew Pendergast, Castlefield Gallery; Rowan Pritchard, Exhibition Coordinator, University of Salford Art Collection; Emily Speed, Artist in Residence at Energy House 2.0, University of Salford; Lindsay Taylor, University of Salford Art Collection; RA Walden, Hybrid Futures artist (via video link), Kate Wafer, Hybrid Futures Evaluation Consultant; Helen Wewiora, Castlefield Gallery.
There is also a Marketplace where you can meet relevant organisations to get the latest information and guidance. Participants confirmed include Museums Development North, The Carbon Literacy Project, LANDS (Lancashire Arts Network for Developing Sustainability), GMAST (Greater Manchester Arts Sustainability Team), University of Salford Sustainability Team, and SPARK.
Want to know more about Hybrid Futures so far? Visit the Hybrid Futures website for more information on the Symposium, the Hybrid Futures partners, artists and exhibitions, case studies & resources. You can also now read all the reflections from the Collective Futures community engagement project.
Back in February the Art Collection team returned to the Williamson Art Gallery & Museum to host a final event for the Craig Easton Is Anybody Listening? and Our Time, Our Place touring programme. The symposium ‘Commissioning and Collecting Socially Engaged Photography’ brought together partners and stakeholders along with artists and participating communities to ask again: Is Anybody Listening? It was a full day of talks from artists and facilitators, as well as audience feedback sessions based around the concept of ‘socially engaged practices’ and their place in the art world.
In the morning, we heard directly from Craig Easton, along with artists/facilitators Liz Wewiora, Poppy Cain, and Gwen Riley Jones; celebrating the work of the young people and emerging photographers that they supported, as well as discovering what impact each project had.
Gwen Riley Jones, Lindsay Taylor, and Rob Fulton enjoying their time on the discussion panel. Photo credit : Roger Sinek
Stemming from questions that have arisen during the project, the afternoon focused more closely on the ethics surrounding socially engaged photographic practice – from commissioning and collecting through to what is valued, by who – and why? Speakers including Sarah Fisher (Executive Director of Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool), Lindsay Taylor (Curator, University of Salford), Laura Jamieson (Creative Producer, LeftCoast), Craig Easton (exhibiting artist/documentarian), Gwen Riley Jones (socially engaged photographer and Creative Director of Stockroom), and Rob Fulton (Youth Work Manager, Salford Youth Service) each presented a response to the question: From the spectrum of socially engaged photographic practice, what should we be collecting?
The panel went on to answer questions about what evidence there was that our audience are interested in socially engaged photographic practice, whether we are omitting an important part of art history by failing to collect socially engaged practice, and how we might begin to think about recompense for those co-authoring the work; this led to a very engaged and thought-provoking debate amongst the delegates.
The event then finished with a touching reading from poet Abdul Aziz Hafiz; collaborator on Craig Easton’s Bank Top project.
Abdul Aziz Hafiz reading his poem to the room. Photo credit : Sam Parker
At the Art Collection, we know that our recent socially-engaged work with young people has already made a huge impact on the way we work – including the way we think about commissioning, collecting, and reaching audiences and participants. In particular, our projects with Salford Youth Service have proved particularly inspiring, and we hope to find ways to develop this work further in future.
Sam Parker, Art Collection Team Assistant, April 2024
Team Assistant, Sam Parker, attended the LOOK launch event back in January, and here he shares his thoughts on a few of his favourite works from the exhibition in Liverpool.
1. Executive Decision by Mishka Henner
Executive Decision by Mishka Henner installed at LOOK Climate Lab 2024, Liverpool. Photography by Rob Battersby.
Sam Parker: To start with, I can’t not mention Mishka Henner’s new work Executive Decision. One of our current artists-in-residence at Energy House 2.0, Henner has begun to develop work with the AI Midjourney, creating his own worlds and imagery using prompts that continuously manipulate the work.
The layers of the work really draw me in. The work itself depicts a man in a business suit, not panicked by the prospect of fire, but to me, he seems content or even relaxed. Combined with the title of the work, Executive Decision, it makes me think of the government and organisational decisions that continue to do our planet harm; an ‘executive decision’ to damage the already depleting health of the environment around us.
I’m also really interested in Henner’s use of artificial intelligence, particularly at this time when conversations about AI are so contentious. The painterly aesthetic of the piece seems to point towards the way AI may make traditional labour techniques redundant. From a distance, and with no knowledge of Henner’s work, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a painting – drawing inspiration and source material from historical artwork when discussing the work with Henner ahead of the exhibition, he rightly said it could be “indistinguishable from paintings.”
Along with this, Henner has deliberately used a service that prints on demand for this work – highlighting another problem that we as a society are facing; the mass production of goods with no care for the environmental impact of said production. The work speaks to the nature of modern culture; we can make and sell anything, without care for the process and impact of its production.
To me, these things combine to make a truly thought-provoking work, which describes contemporary problems, the diminishing viability of hand-crafted products, and the almost glorification of destruction that we as a species cause.
2. Strange Eden by Mario Popham
Strange Eden by Mario Popham installed at LOOK Climate Lab 2024, Liverpool. Photography by Rob Battersby.
I really enjoyed the variety of Mario Popham’s work on display here; the striking photographs, and also the experimental methods employed in a couple of the more abstract pieces. Particularly the layered pieces that literally stick out from the surface, giving an impasto aesthetic as the deep black colour prickles out from the imagery. This experimental approach interests me as someone who both photographs and paints. The material composition of the piece is also apt, using coal and other materials from the Brickershaw Country Park; which used to be a coal mine. This adds depth and connection to the source of Popham’s work.
Detail View: Strange Eden by Mario Popham. Photography by Rob Battersby.
There is something otherworldly about Popham’s work – in terms of shape and form, some of the works are almost reminiscent of the aliens and their language from the film Arrival – ink-like forms suspended in the air, travelling within something akin to a circulatory system.
3.Co-Creation with the Environment by Lizzie King
Details from Lizzie King’s Co-Creation with the Environment series. Courtesy of the artist.
Alongside Popham’s work, current MA Contemporary Art student and previous Graduate Scholar with the Collection Lizzie King also presented some beautiful experimental pieces that use nature itself to create the works on photographic paper. These works also provide this cosmic feeling and aesthetic; looking to contain special formations of stars, gases, and other astral bodies.
Scuffs and scratches, dirt and debris – King uses the unpredictability of nature to further enhance the works itself, using sustainable processes the work combines analogue processes and nature into one complete package.
LOOK Climate Lab 2024 installed at Open Eye Gallery. Photography by Rob Battersby.
From what I understand the prints are not fixed, and so are still altered by light – In Open Eye Gallery they are covered with a cloth that has to be lifted to view the work. I find the prospects of this quite interesting, as over time, the prints will change with each viewing until eventually, the print has become overexposed; along with the materials that have been kept on the surface, this could produce wildly varying results allowing all to ponder which element created certain colours and forms– it’s exciting!
4. Kherson by Nazar Furyk
Kherson by Nazar Furyk installed at LOOK Climate Lab 2024, Liverpool. Photography by Rob Battersby.
I also wanted to discuss Nazar Furyk‘s series of photographs taken within the Kherson region in Ukraine. Given the contemporary nature and global political situation surrounding the war in Ukraine, Furyk explores the ramifications of the conflict; not just the military action, but the people who continue to live through this, how it affects them, and how the war ultimately affects them as individuals.
Furyk shows us rubble, rubbish, murky waters, claustrophobic offices, books in the open, an abandoned football, destroyed infrastructure, and the resulting contaminated area from the destruction of fuel and chemicals – which then made its way into the Black Sea. Furyk visited this region several times, including immediately after the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant dam. A sustainable energy source destroyed – this begs the question: how will they recover? With so much lost, and the war not even over yet, how will they rebuild? Will the damage done to the environment ever be rectifiable?
It was interesting to compare this work to Stephanie Wynne’s Erosion work, where she explores the structural waste as a result of war and how post-WWII era Liverpool had to deal with the waste from bombed homes. In this case, tonnes of rubble from the bombed homes were dumped on a mile-long stretch of coastline – will something similar be the fate of Ukraine’s post-war waste?
Erosion by Stephanie Wynne installed at LOOK Climate Lab 2024, Liverpool. Photography by Rob Battersby.
There is one image that Furyk has captured that stood out from the rest for me; taken after the dam’s destruction, arid cracked ground, debris, and a sense of barrenness – green leaves rise from between the cracks, flowers bloom and shed their petals amidst the chaos. Life finds a way, and life goes on.
LOOK Climate Lab 2024
There’s still a week left to catch LOOK Climate Lab 2024 at Open Eye Gallery Liverpool. The exhibition closes on the 31st of March.
LOOK Climate Lab is a biennial programme exploring how photography can be a relevant and powerful medium for talking about climate change. The programme sees the gallery transformed into a lab: bringing together researchers and artists to test their ideas and encouraging our audiences to discuss systematic changes needed for dealing with the climate crisis.
Find out more about LOOK Climate Lab and visiting Open Eye Gallery over on their website, here.
Energy House 2.0 Artist-in-Residency Programme
In partnership with Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool and Castlefield Gallery, Manchester, the University of Salford Art Collection is currently hosting two artist residencies at Energy House 2.0, the unique, world-leading energy performance facility at the University. Mishka Henner was awarded the first of two 18-month artist residencies in early 2023. Emily Speed was awarded the second residency in summer 2023. Both artists are developing new work in response to Energy House 2.0’s research, exploring themes of the climate crisis, net zero research, and the future of housing. Find out more about our residencies here.
Sam Parker
Graduating from BA(Hons) Fine Art at the University of Salford in 2023, Sam joined the Art Collection team as a graduate associate in October of that year, working closely with the team to develop collections care, technical installation, and his own curatorial skills.
Sam is continuing to explore all avenues of knowledge in the curatorial world whilst aiding in exhibition installations, artist development, networking, planning, and the inner workings of the Art Collection.
He also maintains a fine art practice with an interest in sound, music, and synesthesia – how audio and visual mediums can come together to create enhanced experiences. Find out more about Sam’s fine art practice here.
Now in its 10th year, the annual Graduate Scholarship scheme, run by the University of Salford Art Collection in partnership with Castlefield Gallery, is now open for applications. This year, we are delighted to announce additional support from Wallace Seymour Fine Art Products for the Wallace Seymour Painting Scholarship.
First established in 2014 to support artists in the crucial first year after graduation, the 12 month programme grants graduating students from the School of Arts, Media and Creative Technology time, resources and the opportunity to develop their practice within a supportive framework.
Scholarship packages are tailored but can include:
£1000 bursary towards e.g. materials, research or equipment
Studio space for 12 months
Mentoring, coaching and professional guidance
Research trips and networking
Opportunity to have artwork acquired into the University of Salford Art Collection
In 2023/24, we awarded five places on the scheme, with studio spaces including Islington Mill, Paradise Works and Hot Bed Press. The programme evolves each year as we endeavour to offer opportunities to the graduates we think we can best support. Over 50 graduates have benefitted from the scheme so far.
Eligibility:
The scheme is only open to University of Salford final year undergraduates from the School of Arts and Media (who are due to graduate or complete their studies in July 2024) – plus there will be a maximum of one scholarship open to an MA graduate (due to graduate or complete in September 2024). Applicants who will be undertaking further study at the time of the scholarship (e.g. starting an MA in 2024) will not be eligible. Further information and guidelines are available below.
Accessibility:
We aim to remove any barriers, bias or discrimination that prevents individuals or groups from realising their potential, and to develop organisational cultures that positively value diversity. If you have access needs and wish to discuss these in relation to the application, interview, or the opportunity more broadly, please contact: S.A.Parker@salford.ac.uk
Open for applications from: Monday 18th March 2024 Application deadline: by 9am Monday 29th April 2024 Late or incomplete applications will not be accepted.
Shortlisted applicants will be interviewed in person on Tuesday 21 May 2024.
To apply, please read the guidelines and complete the application form.
1) Complete your application form 2) Send an up to date CV (2 pages maximum) 3) Include image, video or sound files (and/or weblinks to these) – up to four files maximum 4) Email to Team Assistant, S.A.Parker@salford.ac.uk with the subject line “GSP Application Form 2024”
All the information on how to apply, eligibility criteria, application formats and further guidance is included in the guidelines.
For any enquires contact S.A.Parker@salford.ac.uk
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We are delighted to share that we’re bringing Hybrid Futures, a new group exhibition exploring sustainability and the climate crisis, to Salford, launching in March 2024 at Salford Museum and Art Gallery.
Bringing together all the work from across the Hybrid Futures project, you’re invited to join us to celebrate the exhibition launch on the 21st of March.
Exhibition Launch: Hybrid Futures
5-7 PM, Thurs 21st March 2024 Salford Museum and Art Gallery
A prayer room, water and dates will be made available to anyone observing Ramadan. Want to attend earlier? We will be offering a quiet hour ahead of the exhibition launch. Please contact Rowan Pritchard if you would like to attend from 4 pm.
Marking one of the final phases of the 2-year project, the exhibition brings together the new works co-commissioned for Hybrid Futures from Shezad Dawood, Jessica El Mal, Parham Ghalamdar and RA Walden, each exploring universal threats of climate change, informed and inspired by their own perspectives and backgrounds.
Also featured is the wider work of the project including Collective Futures, a test bed community engagement programme and the findings and recommendations of Hybrid Futures’ Sustainability Advisor, Danny Chivers whose work has been integral to the project and the partners.
Image Credit: Still from Shezad Dawood, Leviathan Cycle, Episode 8: Cris, Sandra, Papa & Yasmine, 2023. Single screen, HD video, 17:46.
More to come from Hybrid Futures:
Interested in the behind-the-scenes of the project? The exhibition will be accompanied by a national symposium on 10 May 2024, where learning from Hybrid Futures will be shared. Find the booking and full programme details here on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/837365973167
Alongside the exhibition at the Museum, two additional works by Hybrid Futures artists Parham Ghalamdar and Shezad Dawood will be screened at the New Adelphi Exhibition Gallery, University of Salford, to coincide with the exhibition. Part of the Gallery’s art film season – showing works from the University Art Collection with an international focus – Birds or Borders by Ghalamdar screens 18 March – 3 April, and Leviathan Cycle, Episode 1: Ben by Dawood screens 10th – 24th April – visit the UOSAC website for full details.
PLUS: A new exhibition by RA Walden will open at the Grundy from 20 April – 15 June. Object transformations through the coordinate of time is a solo exhibition of newly commissioned and existing works. Spanning sculpture, installation, text and moving image, the works in this exhibition mark and measure the passing of time. Drawing on reference points as varied as, quantum physics, the ecological crisis, ancient timekeeping and the life cycle of worms, Walden is asking us to consider time at both a macro and micro level. More specifically, as an artist with lived experience of a disability, RA Walden also uses their work to explore and express non-normative experiences of time. From sculptures made from hacked office clocks to texts that ask who and what defines, ‘work’, Walden’s exhibition also provides a poetic meditation on lives and bodies whose timekeeping does not conform to the supposed ‘norm’.
Find out more about the Hybrid Futures Project:
Visit the dedicated Hybrid Futures Microsite to explore the exhibitions so far, learn more about the artists & partners, and read about the work of Collective Futures now.
Hybrid Futures, a multi-part collaboration focusing on climate, sustainability, collaborative learning and co-production between Castlefield Gallery, Manchester, Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool, Touchstones Rochdale, University of Salford Art Collection and Shezad Dawood Studio, and generously supported by Arts Council England and Art Fund with additional funding from Henry Moore Foundation.
Hi, I’m Rowan and I have been working with the Art Collection for just over two years as a Team Assistant. Now in December 2023, my time as Team Assistant comes to an end.
Trying to sum up the last two years in just one blog post is quite a challenge. Here are just a few ways I’ve tried to summarise my time working with the Art Collection:
Over 400 meetings
Over 20 exhibitions
41 (now 42!) blog posts
12 major collaborative projects
1 entire store move
(plus an incalculable number of cups of coffee!)
Here are some snapshots that capture just a few of my standout moments from working with the Collection.
Artist Mollie Balshaw installing their work ‘Depression Day Realness’ 2021 for Theirs, Yours, Ours.
Installing Mollie Balshaw’s work Depression Day Realness, 2021 for Theirs, Yours, Ours.
The many exhibition installs and take-downs I had the opportunity to work on, particularly installing Mollie Balshaw’s garden chair self-portrait for Theirs, Yours, Ours in the New Adelphi Exhibition Gallery back in 2022. I am still quite envious of those flaming socks.
Condition checking prints in the Art Store.
Cleaning the back of a work on canvas with the Museum Vac.
I have loved learning about the nerdier side of collections care, from the agents of deterioration to environmental monitoring and the museum vac. Even a visit from the air quality control man was thrilling in the moment.
A screenshot from Albert Adams: In Context, showing cross sections of paint layers.
Albert Adams, Deposition, 1955, Print. Image Courtesy the Artist’s Estate. Photography by Museums Photography North West.
Learning all about Albert Adams through the Albert Adams: In Context project, and digitising so many of his works that they began to haunt my dreams. Alexandra Lawson’s presentation during the symposium diving into her conservation work on one of Adams’ paintings was truly fascinating, and I particularly loved seeing the microscopic layers of paint. And Greg Thorpe’s beautiful blog exploring Adams’ life and work through objects from his archive will stick with me for a long time.
Young people from Our Time, Our Place visit the art store. Photography by Gwen Riley Jones.
Installation view: Some Days I Feel Triangle at New Adelphi Exhibition Gallery. Photography by Gwen Riley Jones.
Working with Gwen Riley Jones and the young people she connected with through Action for Conservation and Salford Youth Service. I was blown away by their confidence and generosity when sharing their thoughts about artwork. They have taught me to be more open-minded in the way I think about artwork.
Accepting the Collection’s 2021 Green Impact platinum award. Courtesy the Enviromental Sustainability Team.
Myself and Gael Dundas from Imperial War Museums at Art Action >> Climate Crisis.
Going Green! Being the Collection’s Green Champion over the last two years has been really rewarding. From stiffy bags (the silver reusable alternative to bubble wrap!) to Hybrid Futures, working with sustainability underpinning what we do, and seeing that work recognised through programmes like Green Impact and the recent Green Gown awards has been fab. Earlier this year I attended Art Action >> Climate Crisis, a two-day conference held by the Gallery Climate Coalition and Whitechapel Gallery; seeing and hearing from the network of people within our sector and beyond who care passionately about the environment and are taking steps to protect it has restored my faith a little.
Installation View: Visibilities at New Adelphi Exhibition Gallery, 2023. Photography by Jules Lister.
It would be completely remiss of me not to talk about the amazing curatorial opportunities I’ve been entrusted with over the past year. Being invited to curate a collection exhibition for the New Adelphi Gallery was a huge honour. It was a daunting prospect choosing from all of the artwork in the Collection, but the work I chose for Visibilities I hope reflects just a little of the brilliant work the Collection has been doing over the past ten years.
Discussing the work selected for Salford Scholars at The Manchester Contemporary. Photography by Sam Parker.
Salford Scholars Team at The Manchester Contemporary 2023. Photography by Sam Parker.
Finally, I’ve still not completed processing Salford Scholars at The Manchester Contemporary, where months of planning, studio visits, and working closely with our partners at Castlefield Gallery culminated in one whirlwind of a weekend. I am so pleased with our presentation at the Contemporary, and working with all of the artists and partners involved was a treat. The Graduate Scholarship Programme really is something to shout about, with over 50 scholarships offered to graduates over the last ten years.
Installation View: Salford Scholars at The Manchester Contemporary 2023. Photography by Sam Parker.
Taking down Salford Scholars at The Manchester Contemporary 2023.
It would be impossible to touch on all of the things I’ve had the opportunity to be involved with while working in the Collection, and I think trying to capture all of the ways it has impacted me is futile as I won’t be able to do it justice. Working with Steph and Lindsay has been an absolute joy and I want to thank them both for being so generous in sharing their expertise and experience with me. I am excited for Sam Parker, the new team assistant who has joined the Collection as a fresh 2023 Graduate just embarking on this journey. Best of luck Sam! You can read his introductory blog and get to know more about him here.
Following on from 2021-22 where the Art Collection took home a platinum Green Impact award after participating for the first time in the University-wide Green Impact Scheme, this year for 2022-23 we are delighted to share that we have once again achieved a platinum Green Impact award for our ongoing sustainability efforts.
Green Impact is a United Nations award-winning sustainability engagement programme, run internationally by SOS-UK. Throughout the year, organisations across the globe work on sustainable actions in the Green Impact toolkit, each worth either 5, 10 or 15 points.
By completing actions worth over 500 points throughout the year, the Art Collection team has achieved a second Platinum award. Actions undertaken this year have included completing an energy audit with Marta Strzelecka, University Sustainability Engagement Officer and continuing to reduce single-use plastic and make sustainable swaps where possible across our work; swapping out bubblewrap for re-usable silver stiffy bags as recommended by the Gallery Climate Coalition, and continuing to use ecoboard over foamex and vinyl in our exhibition signage and materials.
Team Assistant Sam Parker at the 2023 Green Impact Awards. Courtesy the Enviromental Sustainability Team.
Resuable Silver Bags being used to store artwork rather than single use plastic.
In addition to day-to-day actions, our Green Impact submission this year also included our wider thematic work around sustainability, including the ongoing Energy House artist residencies and the Hybrid Futures programme.
For our Hybrid Futures‘ work, particularly around the Collective Futurescollaborative engagement programme, we were awarded the special Community Action Award. Collective Futures brings together individuals, invited by the Hybrid Futures‘ partners for their perspective on the climate crisis. Connecting around Hybrid Futures’ ongoing activity, the collective is collaborating to explore new ideas, possible solutions, and examples of creative work that has made an impact in local and global communities. With each member able to both bring their interests, experiences, and insights and share the group’s work back out to their communities, the collective is already proving a fruitful site of collaboration and sharing.
Additionally, Lizzie King was awarded the Student Leadership Award for her work on Sustaining Photography. MA Contemporary Fine Art student Lizzie has co-developed Sustaining Photography with socially-engaged photographer Gwen Riley Jones as an exhibition and programme of engagement for fellow students and the public, showcasing and promoting plant-based alternatives to traditional toxic photographic methods. If you would like to find out more about Lizzie’s work on Sustaining Photography, click here.
Lizzie King accepting her Student Leadership Award. Courtsey the Enviromental Sustainability Team.
Art Collection Team Sustainability Champion, Rowan Pritchard shares: “Once again we are so pleased to be recognised for our ongoing sustainability work. From day-to-day activity to our overarching thematic focuses, working sustainability has come to underpin everything we try to do at the University of Salford Art Collection. It has been great to take part once again in Green Impact, and to see and celebrate all of the brilliant sustainability work happening across campus.”
Find out about all of the teams who participated in Green Impact across the University PLUS read more about the Green Impact programme on the University’s sustainability blog, here.
Throughout November, artist Lizzie King and Socially Engaged Photographer Gwen Riley Jones have been sharing recipes and reflections from their project Sustaining Photography.
Sustaining Photography is a project led by Lizzie and Gwen, exploring and promoting plant-based and sustainable alternatives to traditional photographic processes.
You can read all four blogs, including recipes for anthotypes and 35mm film developer from Gwen and Lizzie and find out more about the project here: Sustaining Photography
Step by step instructions on how to make you’re on plant-based sun prints from the Sustaining Photography team, Gwen Riley Jones and Lizzie King.
What you’ll need:
300g of spinach
A hand blender
2 x plastic jug
1 x funnel
Coffee filter papers
A sponge brush
Acid-free watercolour or cartridge paper
A clip frame
Some leaves, flowers or petals – or any other object you wish to use
Or a photographic transparency – you can create your own using digital transfer film and a home inkjet printer
Behind the scenes, making anthotypes with Sustaining Photography. Courtesy Lizzie King.
Method:
Step 1: Put the spinach leaves in a large plastic jug and blend with a hand blender until you create a smooth liquid.
Step 2: Line the funnel with a coffee filter paper and place the funnel on the second jug. Put the spinach liquid into the lined funnel and leave to drip (approx. 30 mins).
Step 3: Coat your paper with your filtered spinach juice using the foam brush. Allow to dry between each coat – either naturally or by carefully using a hairdryer. Coat the paper 3-4 times.
Step 4: Assemble leaves, petals, photographic transparencies or any other flat objects you choose on the paper.
Step 5: Secure the paper and the objects in a clip frame and leave out in direct sunlight, ideally outside, but inside on a window will also work.
Step 6: Wait. Depending on how much sun you have the images could develop in a matter of hours, or over a few days. Your image is ready when the uncovered areas of the paper have faded to a pale yellow colour.
Step 7: Open your frame and reveal your print.
Note: The print will fade if exposed to direct sunlight.
Sustaining Photography is a collaborative project by Lizzie King & Gwen Riley Jones to connect and engage students at the University of Salford with sustainable photographic processes, using produce from the University’s Community Growing Space. The project is based at The University of Salford and has been funded by the Salford Advantage Fund and The University of Salford Art Collection.