Josephine Sowden Solo Show, A Lotus Flower is Born in Water

2012 graduate Josephine Sowden is having her first solo show! It opens at 6pm next Friday (8th March) at Motorcade / FlashParade in Bristol. The exhibition continues until Sunday 10th.

From the press release:

Josephine Sowden uses lens-based media to explore the human condition in relation to modern day consciousness. Commissioned by Hand in Glove, Sowden’s new work As a Lotus Flower is Born in Water is an immersive two-channel video installation.

Inherently performative, the work features the artist amidst the natural landscape, externalising notions of ‘nature’, ‘self’ and ‘ego’. The oppositional personas that Sowden assumes reduce experience to a series of words, distorted memories of the past and predictions of an uncertain future. These confrontational actions exaggerate and bring in to sharp focus a modern day obsession with inner streams of thought; ultimately seeking to question a separation from nature and more primal instincts and desires. 

A piece of critical writing by artist Trevor H Smith, recipient of Hand in Glove’s PLATFORM Professional Development, will accompany the exhibition.  

Sowden graduated from BA Photographic Art at University of Wales, Newport in 2012 and has since been selected for the Catlin Guide, Videoholica International Video Art Festival in Bulgaria and the 2012 Aesthetica Art Prize. Her degree show piece Lilies of the Field was selected by Hand in Glove for PLATFORM 2012; a group exhibition showcasing work by promising arts graduates from Bristol, Bath and Newport. Sowden was then awarded the PLATFORM Commission, to create new work with the support of Hand in Glove for her first solo exhibition. 

Lilies of the Field will be screened on the opening night only.  

The PLATFORM Commission is part of a twelve month series of projects funded by Arts Council England. University of Wales, Newport are also supporting As a Lotus Flower is Born in Water. With thanks to Motorcade/FlashParade, Louisa Fairclough and Maia Conran.

Photo Art at Boutographies Festival, Montpelier

Photo Art are very excited to announce that we have been selected as the course of honour at this year's Boutographies festival in Montpelier, France!

From the press release:

Boutographies, a renowned photography Festival in the south of France, has specially selected the Photographic Art course at Newport to showcase some of its best work over the past four years. Ranging from current students to graduates there will be 14 people representing the course in total. Screened on a showreel in Montpellier this is a fantastic opportunity for the course and its students to gain international recognition. This is another accolade for this high achieving course in photography.

You can view the showreel here and continue reading below for the list of photographers and artists represented as well as a short piece of writing about each piece of work.

The images used at the start of this post are from projects by (in order): Josephine Sowden, Meg Beaumont, Sara Rejaie and Sion Jones.

Stephen Duffy for Reginald Salisbury Award

Current Photo Art 3rd year Stephen Duffy has been awarded £1000 by the Reginald Salisbury Award to complete his project exploring the wealth and status of the Catholic Church:

This work takes a critical view of the wealth and cultural status of the Catholic Church within Ireland. During the 18th Century, while the country was stricken with poverty, the Catholic Church was investing enormous sums of money into constructing altars, in order to use them as stages to evangelize and to propagate.

The money will allow Stephen to continue the project and potentially broaden its scope to include the rest of Europe.

About this year's prize:

The panel selecting this year's Awards had a difficult task and were impressed by the scope and ambition of all the projects submitted for consideration. The panel consisted of Helen Sear and Paul Cabuts. The panel would like to thank Daniel Shires, Graduate Intern, for his help during the selection process.  

The Reginald Salisbury Travel Award is an annual award drawn from a donation by the Salisbury family of Newport to assist students studying Photography at The University of Wales to develop or complete projects that have some element of travel associated to them - either nationally or internationally.  

The award is only open to all year 2 and year 3 students currently studying BA (Hons) Photographic Art, BA (Hons) Documentary Photography and BA (Hons) Photography for Fashion and Advertising at The University of Wales, Newport who plan or currently are making a project with some element of travel associated to it.

Jocelyn Allen in 'Of The Afternoon' Magazine

Photo Art alumni Jocelyn Allen has been featured and interviewed in the second and latest issue of Of The Afternoon. 

It is available for preorder as of today - 25th February - and will be released on February 28th at an accompanying exhibition at the Underground Gallery in London. Check it out!

http://www.oftheafternoon.com/

Diffusion Festival

A date for your calendars! Throughout the merry month of May, Diffusion Festival, an "International Festival of Photography", will be coming to Cardiff. 

It will be chock full of "exhibitions, discussions, screenings, performances, events and celebrations in both physical and virtual spaces and places" and one artist whose work has been confirmed to make an appearance is current Photo Art lecturer Peter Bobby.

Watch this space for more announcements and information as and when it comes, or cut out the middle man and visit their website.

http://www.diffusionfestival.org/