Black+White Photography - UK (2019-12)

(Antfer) #1
01
B+W

A REMINDER

T

wo interesting press releases
have just come into my inbox.
The first is from the Barbican
in London regarding a year-long
programme called Inside Out
which, they say, is: ‘a year
exploring the relationship between our
inner lives and creativity’. It goes on to
say that, in a world of social media in
which we are expected to reveal more
and more about ourselves, the question
of who we really are and how we share
that with others is an increasingly
important one.
The second press release came from
the Wellcome Collection and is entitled
Play Well: Why Play Matters – which doesn’t really need further explanation.
These two exhibitions certainly look worthy of investigating, and it’s encouraging
to see that creativity is the subject for two major institutions. But is there a darker side?
Are we, as a society, feeling deprived of self-expression and need to be reminded how
important the act of creativity and play is to our well being?
As photographers, we know a lot about creativity and play – they are the backbone
of what we do, and without them we would not produce good work or get the satisfaction
that comes with it. But do we need, sometimes, to be reminded of them and how they
function in our aim of self-expression? Photography comes from our inner selves as
much as the physical world around us. At best, it is our attempt to say something
about those inner, and outer, worlds.
This doesn’t, of course, mean that we have to be avant-garde or groundbreaking in
what we do. But it does mean trying, in some way, to express ourselves with sincerity
and validity. At the same time, we need to not get too ‘serious’ because that will hinder
us, it will take away our freedom to be playful. We have to focus on the process rather
than the end product. And much as the end product – whatever it is – is important and
enticing, it’s the process, and all that goes with it, that is the creative part. During it, we
experience hope, despair, elation, and finally, if we’re lucky (luck doesn’t really come
into it), satisfaction and a feeling of having said, in some way, something meaningful.
I’ll be going to these two exhibitions because there may well be things I can still
discover, ways of thinking about the work I do. They will be a good reminder not to
forget the really important things.

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EDITOR’S LETTER DECEMBER 2019

Elizabeth Roberts, Editor
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