March 2016

My (very short) Movie Debut!

March 21, 2016

I’m a very dedicated stills photographer but I made an exception when, back in 2014, I decided to participate in the artist Gillian Wearing’s collaborative film project, ‘Your Views’. I made a film of about 30 seconds, of my view, and submitted it to Gillian. She came back with a short sampling of views. (The opening still and the last film are my view.) Short Including My View

Finally, the time has come now when Gillian will premiere her entire project in ‘A Room With Your Views’, a video installation and exhibition at Brighton University Galleries, UK in May 2016. A Room With Your Views

It’s a really fascinating project and you still have time to send your view to Gillian if you want to get involved… Your View Info

HEY BRUMMIES…

March 19, 2016

If you are out and about on Saturday 16th April and fancy seeing some photography… why not stop into the Harrison Learning Centre at the University of Wolverhampton. As part of ‘Reclaim Photography West Midlands’, four of my photographs will be displayed (21-24). Several other venues are showing photography too, so you could make a day of it! Venue details here

ˈfōtō ˈfôrtˌnīt frīdē

March 12, 2016

No. 9 in the series.

TanyaAhmed99stMarch2016

If you are very quick, and walking up 1st Avenue today, you might see a postcard display of the previous 8 on the site and 5 from my Gated Community project on the gated construction opposite!

After-the-fact- update:
here they are in situ before they came down…

Photos1st

Checked Out & Photographed

March 07, 2016

The NYPL

Tanya-Ahmed-NYPL

Many, many, years ago, sitting on the library floor, reading a book about careers in journalism, I came across a passage on photography. My life turned at that point and I began to pursue a career as a photographer. Fast forward to today and I wanted to find a way to combine the enlightenment that can be found through the library, reading and photography and so I began a new project.

I have been documenting the New York Public Library books I have read over the last two years and have made a visual reading list that I would like to share with you. Photographing the back covers because, let’s face it, the back is where the cover action is. The place for a continuation of design or an abandonment of it. A place to host a photograph that may be complicated, a list of endorsements or even a colorful blank! Beyond the actual cover & the content of the book though, these photographs are also a meditation on the beauty of the physical object. A paper, card, cloth and plastic covered object, pocket sized or unwieldy, found often by accident, passed from hand to hand, neighborhood to neighborhood. Finally the photographs tell a story about the NYPL system too. The specific books I borrowed came to me via my local branch at East 96th Street, each one labelled with the names of the different NYPL branches they originated from.

Alongside the books, I also wanted to photograph the magnificent Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, the famous NYPL building at 42nd Street and 5th Avenue. Walking the corridors I was struck by the spill of light which almost seemed to illustrate the quote by Thomas Jefferson featured on the mantel of the fireplace in the Trustees room:

“Look to the diffusion of light and education as the resource most to be relied on for ameliorating the conditions, promoting the virtue and advancing the happiness of man.” Thomas Jefferson.

I’ve compiled these two sets of images into one project – Checked out & Photographed. Produced as a visual reading list in the form of a magazine, each photograph of a book has the NYPL call number and the name, title and publishing information for each book. An encouragement to look up and check out each one!

One of the joys of the library is to find the most perfect book that you never knew you were looking for. Maybe you will find that book in this list. Maybe you will discover your next favorite author. Maybe, as happened with me, you will find one book that will resonate so perfectly with your own vision that you will buy it multiple times and end up borrowing it from the library because you keep giving your own copy away!

Click below to see the inside pages, when you are there, click on the ‘i’ for more information. You will be able to download the FREE Ebook, or you can buy a physical copy if you like.

I am also attaching a PDF version below that you can download from this page. The best way to view the PDf is with the free acrobat reader (that is probably already on your computer or you can easily download it from the internet) To see it like a book, two pages at a time, select view, page display, two page view on the toolbar.

PDF of Checked Out & Photographed to download

The library system has a large staff, mostly hidden from the public’s eyes, but there are two women who personally have handed me and received back 90% of the books in this project. I’d like to say a HUGE THANK YOU to Regina Valentine and Patricia Small who work at the 96th Street branch library and have made it always a pleasure to visit!

ReginaPatricia

I’d love to hear about your library, and if you read any of the books in this list let me know! Happy reading!

We’re getting the band back together!

March 02, 2016

Our Photography collective [( 6 )] is reuniting this autumn. We’ll be heading to Oxford to shoot and then immediately onto Oxford to exhibit. (Oxford in the UK followed by Oxford in Nova Scotia, Canada that is!)

More details later, but a save the date for now.

Check out this link to the Oxford Riverside Gallery for more details.

Oxford2016

PS Mirabel Exhibition

March 02, 2016

On now at PS Mirabel in Manchester UK Transition : An Exhibition of Contemporary Photography

The show was curated by Mark Adams who put out a call for postcards and included two of my postcards, from NYC and Reading.
Thanks Mark! Mark’s website

You can see them here, on the top row, in this photograph courtesy of Stephy Stephy’s website

steph shipley

From the PS Mirabel website:
“This exhibition explores photography as a narrative, transitional activity exploring a sense of place through landscape or states of change through objects and alternative modes of presentation.

The show includes work by the following photographers, designers and artists using photography. ”
“Ian Beesley > Ben Graville > Craig Atkinson > Sarah Eyre > Agathe Jacquillat > Tomi Vollauschek > Marc Provins > Anna White > Stephen King > Dana Ariel > Mario Popham > Roxana Allison & Pablo Allison > Sandra Ratkovic > Evan Wood > Kieran Boswell > Radoslav Daskalov > Jenny Karling > Christine Lawley > Caroline Barker > Jack Doyle > Richard Ward > Michele Friswell > Mark Adams”

You’ve got plenty of time to catch it – 27th February to 20th April 2016