An exhibition of photographs that depict a world that floats between reality and fantasy, between believable spaces and sites of make-believe. In Lefley’s photographs the interior space of the home is imbued with the otherworldly realms of childhood stories: Narnia, the Wild Wood and Wonderland.
Two projects will be installed in the enchanting roof top gallery setting. In the larger shed, photographs from the series ‘Within’, set within the make-believe world of the doll’s house, in which spaces can be permeated with both playfulness and melancholy. The doll’s house has captured Lefley’s imagination from an early age since watching the film The Incredible Shrinking Man as a child, where the film’s diminutive hero is relegated to the doll’s house only to be attacked by a ferocious pet cat. A doll’s house is a dream home in miniature, a place for childhood imaginings and adult escapism. Within explores the tension between fantasy (the miniature) and reality (the gigantic).
In the smaller shed Lefley reveals her new work in progress, ‘Realm’. Could a fairy or supernatural realm run parallel to reality? Authors such as C S Lewis and George MacDonald were fascinated by this and used the home as a portal into a mythical realm. The realm of Narnia is entered through a wardrobe and the layers of fur coats inside which become trees. In Realm Lefley has created digitally altered photographs, where the familiar place of the home becomes a portal into mythical realm.
Runs November 20 – December 11, 2009
Shed-and-a-half Gallery
Studio 4, Back Building
150 Curtain Road
Shoreditch, London EC2A 3AR
020 7613 2479 / 07980 856 844
Old Street tube
To arrange a viewing appointment, contact Vita Gottlieb on 07980 856 844 or info@shedandahalfgallery.com