Blue is the colour of memory: An exhibition of work by Jo Gane
You are viewing an archived exhibition. This exhibition has already taken place.
Jo Gane working with the camera at Nuneaton Library, May 2023. Image by Ruby Nixon.
An exhibition of work by Nuneaton-based artist Jo Gane who has spent the last 4 months working at Nuneaton Library with members of the public to produce a series of portraits about the local area.
Jo previously restored a 130-year-old camera with the help of expert cabinet maker Jamie Hubbard from Stourbridge. The large-scale Victorian mahogany camera was found in the basement of the Hinckley Times building when it was demolished and sold twice before it made its way by chance to Jo’s studio on Bulkington Lane. The camera will be on display in the Library exhibition.
Photographs with this antique camera were made at the Library onto 15-inch square glass plates using a chemical photographic process from the 1850s called wet plate collodion. They have been printed onto fabric banners for the exhibition using the Victorian blueprint process, cyanotype.
The camera and printing process have been used to articulate the stories of members of the public about living in the area. The exhibition aims to describe why people are attached to the place where they live. Gane explains:
‘The camera’s scale and its age really brings people in to talk about their histories. When working on the street outside the Library making portraits, people were drawn towards it to tell me their histories of places in the local area. That quickly became the theme of the exhibition.’
An expanded display of the portraits and exhibition will move to Compton Verney, Warwickshire, from 21 October 2023 until February 2024 as part of the 2023 edition of Coventry Biennial titled … like a short cut through the brambles.
This project has been commissioned by Coventry Biennial and Compton Verney Art Gallery and Park, made possible by funding from Arts Council England and Coventry City Council.
Join artist Jo Gane in conversation with Coventry Biennial Curator Anneka French, 7 August, 5-6pm. Free, no need to book. Find out more here.
You are viewing an archived exhibition. This exhibition has already taken place.