
SURFACE GALLERY
PRIVATE VIEW:
23RD MAY
7PM - 9PM
OPENING HOURS:
Tuesday to Friday
12PM – 6PM
Saturday
11AM – 5PM
OCULAR
ARTISTS
On Weekends
Chloe MacInnes
Chloe’s work explores the relationship she shares with her mother and the one they share with objects of everyday life, through an ongoing game of hide and seek. Together and also individually, they use space and household items to create perfect hiding places that they would once use as children. However now in their current adult bodies, they encounter the growth and contortion of the body as they find themselves in uncomfortable positions, trapped under tables and when hidden together, they may appear as one being as they struggle to fully conceal themselves. Through this, they engage with the intersection of performance and photography to create a sense of familiarity and playfulness as they attempt to hide in anticipation of the shutter replacing the phrase “Ready or not, here I come.”
Instagram: chloeph0to
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Peak Perception
Mitch Gamble
Typically, when people think of the Peak District, they imagine rolling hills and miles of natural heather moorlands. Through both my project and dissertation, I want to explore how this ‘image’ has been created – both physically through the landscape itself and subjectively through people’s visions of the area before visiting. Three quarters of visitors to the Peaks claim that the main reason for them visiting the park is due to its ‘Naturalness,
peace, and tranquillity’. Is this protected National Park actually as ‘natural’ as people see it and imagine it? For example, the natural open moorlands that people often associate with the area – if these were left natural, untouched and unmanaged, they would rapidly grow
into vast birch forest. This doesn’t seem like a major problem to most; however, one of the main incomes from the mentioned moorlands is from hunters that pay local land owners in order to be able to hunt for Grouse. Grouse nest in the moorlands and wouldn’t nest in the
area if it wasn’t managed and kept this way. So, this ‘natural’ landscape is, in reality, an ‘unnatural’ landscape in the sense that it has to be very closely managed and tended to.
‘Peak Perception‘ examines the natural and not-so-natural factors of the Peak District National Park. Also, the project explores the idea that the PDNP is primarily a “place used by people from middle class backgrounds and are nearly all white”. Since the area became a
protected National Park, why has it attracted this particular demographic? Why have other
ages, classes and ethnicities not used the parks in the same way?
The 555 square miles of protected land has so many different scenarios to offer – from a
gentle walk across a wide-open moorland to kayaking down some of the aggressive white-
water rivers that can be found there. Hundreds of miles, thousands of locations, millions of
visitors, one place – The Peak District National Park.
Anatomy
Lucy Hyde
‘Anatomy’ explores the human body and the issues that accumulate around it, for example; body politics, body dysmorphia and body image. The work celebrates the body and the different body types; it also challenges what norm is when it comes to which body type is the ‘one’ to look like. No two bodies are the same. Social media platforms are a big contributor when it comes to ‘the perfect body’ and body issues. With them claiming there is a certain way you should look, social media can be unhealthy when its used incorrectly, leading to body shaming and insecure issues. By challenging the social norm ‘Anatomy’ explores how there is no such thing as the perfect body, as it does not exist.
Instagram: @lucyhydephotography
Email: lucyhydephotography.com
As The River Flows
Rebecca Potten
‘As the river flows’ by Rebecca Potten captures the journey of the river Tame in greater Manchester from source to finish, by pinpointing locations along the way and capturing the river and the environment in which it flows through, this project sets out to show the ways in which the river is used and how the river adapts to the challenges people put it through. From reservoirs, countryside and nature reserves to industrial parks and city centres, the river goes through a lot of changes, this project intends to highlight the problems of pollution and the issues of microplastics which the river Tame faces and how these issues are caused.
instagram: @rebeccapotten
Website: rebeccapottenphotography.com
The Liminal
Rosie Garrett
Liminality is the in-between stages of life where things feel uncertain; standing in the threshold between what has passed and what is to come. My work is an exploration of these transitional liminal places; the blurred edges between different states of being, where there is an underlying sensation that things are off. My work aims to show beauty in these stages of transition, finding the familiar, the universal, the nostalgic.
Instagram: @rosiegarrettphoto
A Northern Coastal Town
Lucy Rebecca Hill
Lucy’s work examines the northern coastal town of Blackpool. The seaside town holds a personal connection to the photographer as it has been the location for annual family holidays for many years. In this unexpected, melancholy take, Lucy’s work also coincides with the end of life of her grandma, who she stayed with in Blackpool. As a result, the deterioration of her grandma’s health has turned the work into a nostalgic exploration, as she looks back on the town that she stayed in with her family.
Instagram: @lucyrebeccahillphotography
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Tableau
Maia Baker
'Tableau' by Maia Baker explores the performance of the self, through the style of romanticised photographs. This body of work examines the nature of how the cameras presence can influence the way we behave. Thinking about this in today’s social context, we can question how we perform for the camera. This is especially applicable with technologies such as social media. Similar to Romanticism artists, the images we post online only convey the very best of our lives and make them look beautiful. The approach to the work pushes the boundaries between photography and painting, confronting the social expectations of the current day by examining whether the photos are a documentation of reality or a fabrication.
Instagram: @maiakbaker
Email:
Marked
Tom Coffey
Exploring the different styles within the tattoo scene, Marked is a photographic project that focuses on the people, the tattoos and the spaces that make the scene so special. This series sets out to explore and showcase the diversity and creativity that exists within tattooing by photographing a wide range of people and providing them a space to self represent. Through an image archive, documenting individuals allows for a more detailed look at the tattoo art that people have decided to permanently etch on their skin. The aim for this series of images was to highlight this diversity of individuals with tattoos as well as the creativity of the tattoos themselves.
Embroidered Landscapes