I have one piece in this show. I’ll be at the opening, let me know if you’ll be going!
Opening : December 3rd (Thursday) 5pm
Runs : December 1st – 12th
On View
I’m with Siott Gallery!
November 13, 2015
I am excited to announce that Siott Gallery has taken me on.
AND I am their very first photographer!
When I was planning the exhibition in Reading this past summer I heard of Siott Gallery for the first time when they generously posted information on our exhibition, Reading: A Start & A Return, on their own web and social media sites.
Why did they do that? They didn’t know us, they weren’t going to make any sales from us. Based in Reading themselves, they did it because they love the arts and want to encourage more people to get involved. They also wanted to show support for fellow artists. Who wouldn’t love their ethos – Discover art you love!
I encourage you to look through the artwork on their website. Don’t feel intimidated. If you don’t know much about art why not read through their blog first. The lively articles and interviews with artists will give you a way into understanding the contemporary art scene.
But back to my photography! Rounding out the Newtown trifecta that emerged from this summer (Turbine house, Reading College and now Siott Gallery) it seems perfect that the first series of photographs that Siott gallery will feature is Gated Community. This series was photographed in the same geographical area as the museum, college and gallery. So, if you missed them at the college (although they are still up until Nov 30th if you happen to be nearby) you can see the whole series here. I hope you enjoy them.
Gated Community at Siott Gallery
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60, 30, now!
November 13, 2015
Reading College are hosting my latest series of photographs ‘Gated Community’ until the end of November in the foyer. They held an open evening event at college last night allowing many of you to go to see the photographs and also discover what the college has to offer these days.
I would like to give a big thanks to the fantastic team at Reading College, with a particularly enthusiastic cheer for Dot and Keith. Also I’d like to give a shout out to anyone that went to the college (in all its forms) over the last 60 years. Did you know that there is an alumni association? Why not get involved. Reconnect with the college of the past and become involved again today. Here is the link that will give you an opportunity to tell your story and connect with other alumni.
Thanks to all those who took the time to visit the college yesterday. Here’s a photo taken by Janice Bradley at the event last night for those that couldn’t make it. It you couldn’t make it don’t worry check back tomorrow for more news on Gated Community!
Reading College is 60… SAVE THE DATE…
November 08, 2015
… they are having an OPEN EVENING on Wednesday November 11th from 5- 7.30pm
The college has undergone a few mergers and name changes since it was opened and visited by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother 60 years ago, but the buildings are still essentially the same as I remember them.
Yes, I went there to become a photographer! I went to Berkshire College of Art and Reading Tech, as Reading College was known then 30 years ago (!). I was back in the neighborhood too this summer with the exhibition Reading: A Start & A Return.
During the exhibition I had the good fortune to meet with Dot, Federica, Jamie and Joycelyn who work at the college. They kindly arranged to host, as part of the 60th anniversary celebration a new (and so far unseen) series of photographs, that I took in the streets behind the college this summer. The photographs have been up since October 23rd but so far only those attending the college, or the celebration event that day, have been able to see them.
That is about to change though. On the evening of Wednesday 11th November from 5 – 7.30pm, the doors of the college will open to the wider community. Everyone will be able to enter the college, find out about their programs, meet their students and faculty and see my newest set of photographs- Gated Community.
I’d like to invite you to take a look.
Reading college, Kings Road, Reading, Berkshire, RG1 4HJ, UK.
Wednesday 11th November 5pm – 7.30pm.
OPEN EVENING LINK (you don’t have to sign up)
P.S. Why not take your camera and send me a postcard sized image of those very same streets while you are visiting the college- take a flash or torch with you- it’ll be dark! (or go early to take a wander around before the open evening.) You can find the info on my Reading Postcards project HERE (camera or cell phone – everyone welcome to participate regardless of skill level)
The Glasgow Gallery of Photography
November 08, 2015
I am delighted to announce that my photographs of Glasgow in the late 1980s are featured on the website of The Glasgow Gallery of Photography.
‘The Glasgow Gallery of Photography was set up in 2015 by a group of
Glasgow photographers with the plans to create a New Gallery dedicated to
photography in Glasgow… A gallery that is open to everyone who wishes to exhibit
their work.’
Sounds good to me! Why not send them your work? Or help them fund raise. Looking forward to the day when I can see photos on the walls! About time I went back!
Displacement
October 26, 2015
Opening on Friday night a series of my images will be shown at the exhibition Displacement.
The exhibition will open at 6pm on Friday 30th November at 44AD Artspace, Basement Gallery, 4 Abbey Street, Bath BA1 1NN. It will be open daily 12-5pm to 15th November.
Here’s the Facebook event link Displacement
and what’s on this weekend in Bath & Bristol
ArtWeekender
WORK IS UP!
August 31, 2015
Finally! It’s been a couple of weeks since the exhibition I was in with 4 other photographers finished its run and I’ve just managed to get my exhibition photographs online! If you couldn’t get to Reading now you will have a chance to see what was up.
I had two sets of work in the exhibition.
Very different from each other but both concerned with change, time, the times, distance, place, technology, photography and relationships. So not too much to consider there!
Syncretize is my thoughts on living life between two places over thirty years and how that affects my relationships with people and place. This is a different sort of project for me but one that has been very rewarding. Especially when the subjects of my photographs visited the gallery to see their own photographs. That made my day. The thirty years came full circle.
Postcards of Reading was, at the beginning of the exhibition, a set of postcard sized prints from 1985 that were taken in the Newtown area of Reading (where Berkshire College of Art & Design was, and also where the Turbine House is). But, during the run of the exhibition I went out with my camera and some other photographers on a few photo walks. This resulted in some new images from all of us that were shown in a pop up exhibition on the last day of the show.
Although I have been to Reading since I left college this was the first time in 30 years I had gone back to photograph in the same area. It was such an amazing thing to do. The area still has basically the same layout so it was familiar to walk around and having the old photographs to hand made it easy for me to see some of the changes. Particularly how much the trees had grown around the water tower! Of course I could see that some things had changed without photos- The Dove for instance is now newly built housing.
Although I had old photographs with me I didn’t want to produce the same images again. Although I must admit to a thrill of excitement when I found the phone box and the house with the steps and did photograph them as I had originally!
Photographically I wanted to bounce around several ideas in this project. I did want to show change between then and now, but I also wanted visual links between the old and new images, in effect answering the old images with a new one. But not necessarily by photographing the same thing. Also the new photographs suggested other things to photograph. I also wanted to show different areas in Newtown. In the old images I photographed more people and spoke with them. This time I didn’t photograph so many people and only spoke with one lady, who posed for me. This was a big change over the thirty years in what I like to photograph, I don’t really photograph strangers anymore. I also photographed the riverside. I much prefer the built urban environment over nature but really wanted to fully show the area. The images on the website are the ones that I showed at the Turbine House. I have more though, so expect to see a few materialize in the future.
http://tanyaahmed.com/postcards-of-reading-1985-2015/
http://tanyaahmed.com/syncretize/
I am also starting to post the other photographer’s images (and some of mine) on tumblr. Don’t forget if you can get to Reading I’d love to get a postcard – see the tumblr for details! –
http://postcards-of-reading-2015.tumblr.com
The exhibition website for info on the photographers who exhibited with me at the Turbine house: Richard Pinches, Dave Willis, Darran Gough and Peter Cole is –
http://readingreturn.weebly.com
Let me know what you think. Is it the Reading you remember or how you imagined?
Reading: A Start & A Return
July 24, 2015
A Homecoming 30 Years in the Making.
Finally the day has come, Richard Pinches, Dave Willis, Peter Cole, Darran Gough and I are ready for our reunion exhibition.
See you between 10am and 6pm from tomorrow until August 8th!
Reading : A Start & A Return
June 12, 2015
A homecoming 30 years in the making.
Thirty years ago I left Berkshire College of Art and Design after two intense years of photography. Photographers, artists, designers and academics gave me a grounding in photography theory and practice and set me up with the skills to pursue photography as a career.
So much has changed since those days with the technology, the career options and the closing of art colleges, including BCAD. But, even though I have had to learn a new set of digital skills,the analogue knowledge I was taught and practiced continues to be relevant.
To mark the passing of three decades I am joining with some of my fellow photographers from BCAD to put up a small exhibition of past and present work. It’s an opportunity for us to hang out in the gallery, reflect and talk photography and life. We hope you’ll visit and share your photography and thoughts with us!
The gallery itself is on the Kennet river, a stone’s throw from the site of BCAD, now Reading College, on King’s Road. Whilst the exhibition is on I hope to spend some time exploring the same streets I walked and photographed 30 years ago. I’m planning some casual photo walks maybe you will join me.
For more information please check out our exhibition website where you’ll find directions and details of events as they are added or send me an e mail.
http://readingreturn.weebly.com
You’ll also find the photographer’s links to their websites, twitter and email. We’ll be tweeting under the hashtag #readingreturn.
Reading: A Start & A Return
A photographic homecoming 30 years in the making
July 25 – August 8 2015
http://readingreturn.weebly.com
Gone. Now?
June 05, 2015
I like to ride the bus. Early morning, pre-dawn, and late at night. The M15 is my bus of choice. Down 2nd Avenue and up First. There’s not so much traffic at 5am and it’s actually quicker than making my way to the train and then waiting for one to arrive. More importantly, unlike the subway, there’s a view. Mind you, for a city that supposedly never sleeps, the M15 route has a surprisingly dark, slow view. I sit morning after morning, enveloped by the darkness, my reverie broken occasionally by neon signs and 24 hour bodegas catching my attention. So, I decided to get off the bus and begin to photograph, in the dark.
Although my initial visual interest was in the dark emptiness that made up the route I got seduced by the glowing neons that popped forcefully out of the night and so began to photograph them. On March 26th though I changed my mind and stopped. On Second Avenue at 7th Street there was an explosion that demolished three buildings and two people’s lives. After the initial shock and thoughts for those affected, I cynically thought that this would be a wonderful opportunity for some real estate developer. Instead of 100+ year old, low rise buildings with tens of rent stabilized apartments, there could be a big building with 30 floors and MARKET RATE apartments.
Back on the bus, I continued looking out of the window and realized that the darkness was not just a sleepy night. It was emptiness I was looking into. That’s why it felt so different from the daylight hours when people rushing about distract you from the urban landscape. There were gaping holes in the urban fabric. Empty lots. Some empty for years, not even noticed anymore. Buildings knocked down and land held until its value begins to rise. Buildings with residents and businesses, there one minute, gone in the blink of an eye. Grand plans for new builds, some will materialize soon, others, maybe not.
Of course it’s not just on the M15 bus route, the city is a constantly evolving building site. But this is my usual route and so I decided to keep track of what’s going on. I photographed each empty lot that appeared to be unused or in the very early stages of being built on. From the start of the M15 route at 125th Street and Second Avenue down to the bottom of Manhattan, the Staten Island Ferry terminal and back to 125th Street up First Avenue.
I’ve filed the photographs in a concertina folder, one pocket for each location and I hope to revisit and add to the file as time goes on. You can see the photographs here…. Gone. Now?
You’ll notice that I have added text underneath each photograph. The cross streets so that you can find each site (should you want to!). I have also added links to articles that correspond directly to the site photographed or that speak more generally to the current atmosphere on development, preservation and gentrification. If you live in New York you’ll be aware of many of these discussions. If you live elsewhere I think these articles will give you some insight.
I’ve photographed vacant lots but their silence speaks to more than emptiness.