In pictures: visual inspiration from the W* photography desk
BODY is a tender documentation of encounters between photographer Lotte van Raalte and her subjects, aged between 13 and 94. Van Raalte’s intimate compositions respond to the politics of the female body, as well as a shift in dynamics rooted in the long history of the male gaze. About her practice, van Raalte comments: ‘I’m always on a quest for candid in-between moments. I think my fascination with the female body comes from different angles: the fact that women are dominantly sexualised and unrealistically portrayed in the fashion, movie and music industry.’ (A book launch and accompanying exhibition is being staged at Amsterdam gallery Vriend van Bavink.)
Luke Evans is known for his experimental approach to photography, imbuing landscapes and still lifes with a sense of awe through tricks of perspective and scale. Fascinated by natural science and physics, Evans has turned ice, sand and smoke into otherworldly environments. He has even digested photographic negatives, capturing the inner landscape of his body. As part of Apple’s Future Makers Festival at its Covent Garden store, Evans will be sharing the process behind his visual illusions and inspiring the audience to think and photograph in unusual ways. Pictured, Sun, 2018, made by rephotographing a print that has been destroyed by arrows shot from a bow, and lit from behind.
Lemons escaping from their bags, swans gliding across water, confetti bursting into the sky: Seth Lower’s Units questions where one thing ends and another begins. ‘The photograph points to the specific and pretends to represent things in conclusive or indisputable ways – the best moment, the best angle – while in reality being a totally different thing,’ says Lower. Units traces the ebb and flow of qualities shared in the suites of images, for a ‘soft but thorough’ approach. ‘Things have the potential to change form while still maintaining their basic identities, and may stay the same while having different meanings to different things,’ adds Lower. ‘Photographs add a layer to this, since we can potentially see things caught in becoming.’
Presented biannually, the Jerwood/Photoworks Awards are open to emerging UK-based artists using photography. Each recipient is bestowed £10,000 to develop new work, culminating in an exhibition at Jerwood Arts in London (and a subsequent UK tour), alongside an additional production fund and mentorship from international experts. Over the past 12 months, Silvia Rosi and Theo Simpson have been refining distinctive bodies of work exploring history and identity through family, industry and place, which will debut at Jerwood Arts. Pictured, Self Portrait as my Mother in School Uniform, 2019, by Silvia Rosi.
Plug into TJ Boulting’s exhibition of recent works by multi-disciplinary artist Dominic Hawgood from his ambitious ‘shape-shifting’ project, Casting Out the Self, exploring the rapidly evolving landscape of digital imaging. At the London gallery, ritual, reality and performance collide in a site-specific installation that merged psychedelics with the mechanics of visual computing.