During a short trip to Scotland, I visited the well known Stills centre of photography. This is a very intimate and unique gallery, that was established in 1977 and has been highly successful from then on. A gallery which then becomes very personal, this is purely due to the welcome that you have when presented in the gallery, however still has a high amount of influential power. On this occasion that I had chance to visit the gallery it showcased a range of dominant work that backdated to the 80’s, all of which gave very strong indication that photography really has created large significance throughout British, and history in general.
The exhibit in particular was the Archive of Modern Conflict, one of the factors interesting me the most is Bertha Jaques’ : Plant Study, where she created cyanotype photography of wildflowers. The botanical flowers in printed on stock, are almost poetical in imagery, very subtle and beautifully created. There becomes a huge comparison between Jaques’ work, and the work of Maxwell Hayes’ Duk-Duk practice, which looks at the tripe of the Tolai people, creating complete contrast between harmony and intensity.
Tyler Bishop-Harris 