| Plus |
|
|||
|
Pictures that
tell a story Joy Gregory's
portrait photographs do not usually focus on the face, but on something
individual to the person. And even if the photograph does focus
on the face, it reveals something extraordinary to the viewer. Joy Gregory
was the UK participant sponsored by The British Council for the
'artlink' An artist,
photographer, and educator who lives and works in the south of London,
Joy was recently awarded a Fellowship by NESTA UK (National Endowment
for Science, Technology and the Arts), which will enable her to
concentrate on making a new piece of work which looks at language
and culture. She is also working on a monograph of her work which
is due for publication early next year. "My most
recent work combines my tendency for collecting and using objects
associated with the female form with a fascination with narrative
and history. Thus seemingly innocuous objects like the handbag,
are placed in a historical or social context resulting in surprising
and sometimes chilling implications," she explains. She had also
worked for three years on a Memory and Skin project in the Caribbean.
"I photographed everything that I felt expressed the Caribbean
as a fusion of many cultures, such as the joint legacy of the indigenous
people, African slaves, European colonists, immigrants from China,
and indentured labour from the Indian sub-continent. "Another
interesting project was the 'Cinderella towards Europe' series.
Most of the women I spoke to in the Caribbean when asked what they
most wanted to do in life, said that they wanted to visit Europe
and that they also desired to own something extravagant, preferably
in gold," explained Joy. "This
led me to travel widely in Europe, and I photographed the places
which the countries are most identified with. For example in Paris
the Eiffel Tower, in Geneva, the Red Cross and UN buildings, in
Netherlands, the windmills, in Venice, the canals etc. In each of
the photographs was this pair of gold shoes. They take on the look
of a tourist wondering obscurely all over Europe. For 'artlink'
this year, she chose to concentrate on two particular types of techniques.
The Cyanotype - or the blue printing method, Salt Printing, and
the Pin-hole method. "We also did some portraitures,"
she explains "Most
of these methods are not used in everyday photography,but they are
extremely effective. I encouraged the participants to start using
the pin-hole method. "Therefore,
I took the lens of my Hasselblad camera out, and then inserted a
piece of cardboard and took as many photographs as I could. The
photographs I took at the Botanical Gardens and the Peradeniya University
turned out to be very effective," she added. Equally interesting
were the portraits. Having been
asked to do the fashion part of the portrait segment, she gave it
a creative twist, one of the photographs for instance showing the
legs of swimmers at a hotel pool. In nearly all Joy's photographs what struck me most was the fact that she used all the media available to her- from digital imaging to the Victorian print process. And what was most amazing was that in the end, whatever method used, she got her message across. Maybe more clearly than ever. Focus
on photography
This year artlink focused on photography and involved 11 photographers;
Joy Gregory from the UK, Peter Neuser from Germany, and Roger Vulliez
from France. The Sri Lankan participants were Anoma Rajakaruna,
Sammera Jayasundara, Manik Vander Poorten, Kushantha Hewapathirana,
Kumara Dayawana Nannethi, Chandrasiri Bogamuwa, U.G. Gunesekara,
and Carmen Perera. The exhibition of their work ends today at the Barefoot Gallery. Opera
and Broadway However, Puccini's
tragic tale of doomed love is not without humour - the laddish antics
of the men, all of them starving as they try to make a precarious
living from their artistic talents, the hectic nightlife and amusement
of enjoying new found money and somewhere among all this horseplay
the tender love story of the dying Mimi and her poet Rodolfo manages
to take root. Puccini's romantic
opera is splendidly brought to life by the vibrant and extremely
talented cast. If you've never been to an opera before, this could
well be the one that gets you hooked. And on October
24, you can indeed say "Hurray for Hollywood" as a talented
cast brings alive the best of Broadway with unforgettable numbers
from South Pacific, West Side Story, Phantom of the Opera, The Wizard
of Oz, Gigi, My Fair Lady, Carousal, Annie Get Your Gun and many
more all-time favourities. Snazzy, jazzy numbers guaranteed to get
the audience dancing in the aisles and shouting for more. The show has
been compiled, staged and choreographed by some of Britain's newest
and most exciting choreographers who are winners of numerous dance
and choreography awards. "Hurray for Hollywood" is fabulously
costumed and promises a great evening's entertainment. The two shows
are sponsored by Sampath Bank. |
||||
Copyright © 2001 Wijeya Newspapers
Ltd. All rights reserved. |
project
held in Sri Lanka this month. 
