Three presentations this month.

Rosanna Goodchild started the evening session with new work. The work profiled her neighbour who had experienced an eviction. Homelessness & the experiences & consequences of insecure accommodation have been documented by Rosanna for a number of years now. John Levett raised a question of ethics & continued with examining how certain themes in our photography might represent the creation of a ‘comfort zone’. Rosanna responded by pointing out that this was an area of documentary photography which she had been pursuing for years & represented a valid practice in both documenting & broadcasting the matter of vulnerability for those who are without permanent accommodation and live an insecure daily life.

Carol Kenna brought along some thoughts & documentary work on the Berlin Wall & the tourist industry. There was much here that can be continued in discussion. When one puts the former DDR regime alongside the current environment of Berlin & its approaches to its tourist industry there are questions regarding how ethical it is to exploit the awful existence of living within a repressive regime. Questions too about trying to rebirth previous German empires & their built representation.

Carol Kenna

Maria Oldland brought to a conclusion her extensive survey of the public memorials and visual clues of Hungary during its steadfast rise of nationalism. This has been a two-session presentation & represents a monumental (no pun intended) photographic creation. The matter of European regimes’ representation of itself was made apparent in Maria’s documentation of the holocaust memorial & of the contending parties response in the public realm. The clashes continue & so too does the confusion about the social & political history of all eastern European history & its monumental representation.

Maria Oldland

Report by John Levett