Arts Award Reviews: Kaja Bruce - Silver Award
Kaja Bruce visited a photography exhibition in Brighton by Simon Roberts, and here's what she thought of it...
On the 18th February
2016, I went to see “Pierdom”, a photography exhibition on the piers of
Brighton by Simon Roberts in the Brighton Pavilion Museum. The exhibition went
on from the 3rd of October 2015 to the 21st of February
2016, and the pictures were taken by a 4x5” field camera. The exhibition
explored the story of Britain’s relationship to the seaside – specifically the
piers – from the early links with artists such as J.M.W Turner, to the
technological advancement of the industrial revolution.
The camera he used was one similar
to the photographic technology from the Victorian era, which creates a link to
the historical significance of piers in British History. In the exhibition,
there were about 20 detailed and well-crafted pictures; however he did take
more which can be found in his book. If you looked closely enough, in one of
the photos you could see a family balancing a bottle of wine on the remains of
the Brighton pier. I think that little details like this sum up the whole
exhibition quite well, that there is and have been a connection between the
British piers and the public for centuries.
I liked many of his pictures. One,
for example, was the picture of Worthing pier because Roberts took it in the
rain and when the waves were rough. This picture in particular stood out to me
because I had never seen such a picture that was taken in such bad weather
conditions. It looked as if it was quite hard to take the picture, with there
being a chance of the camera getting wet and broken. I think that this makes
the photo more impressive and interesting.
Roberts also took photos in
various settings, and even of a couple of piers that no longer exist. In the
information video, it showed that he even took one picture from the top of
someone’s apartment. To me, this is fascinating. From this exhibition, I learnt
about how the piers are related to British history, and how you can tell the
ways that the local community have used the piers throughout the decades. I also
learnt some information about how Roberts took the pictures. I found out that
there are still existing old fashioned cameras that work well and can be used.
As someone that has an interest in
photography, I thought that it might be interesting to have a section of the
exhibition that was dedicated to knowing about how the pictures were made. Normally,
in an exhibition this wouldn’t be shown, but this was just an addition that I
would add if I was to improve the exhibition.
Even though it isn’t open any
more, if the exhibition ever is again, I would recommend seeing it. I think
that Simon Roberts is a fantastic photographer, who took his time and effort
with all of the pictures that I saw in the exhibition. In the information video
it said that taking the pictures with a special Victorian camera was lengthy
process. In addition to actually taking the pictures, getting the right shots, frame
and lighting must have taken a while too. I have huge respect for this
photographer and am going to look at his work in the future.
