Jonathan Bright explores the work of the Pig House Pictures Collective at Boxpark.
I like to think I can make enough of a foray into the world of photojournalism to breathe some life into my writing. I’d never consider myself anything close to a photojournalist, but I think we can all appreciate the value of strong characterisation. That is no better demonstrated than by Pig House Pictures’ inaugural monochrome exhibition - the Uncontained Edition. It opened Monday at the 55DSL Store in Shoreditch’s trendy Boxpark retail complex to a fantastic response, and tomorrow night moves into trendier-still Netil Housein Hackney.
The brainchild of a group of acclaimed photojournalism students from University College Falmouth, Pig House’s latest project documents contemporary tales from the ordinarily macabre to the extraordinarily mundane through a series of beautiful and personable portraits. An intimate shot of an auction in the sleepy Cornish town of Lostwithiel, for example, bursts with a suspenseful energy in the quietly tense facial expressions on show. I’d dare say even the auction itself did not teem with such grit.
After releasing their debut publication online in May – to the impressive tune of over a quarter of a million hits – Pig House was asked to present the exhibition at Diesel’s super-chic east London fashion store.
Pig House photographer and curator Sabrina Dallot-Seguro says: “Winning the proposal was amazing. I knew that launching the collective in London, particularly the very centre of buzzing Shoreditch, would have a huge impact on the way our work can be viewed.”
She explains the personable, intimate nature of the shots, which range from lapdancer to naturist, amputee soldier to amputee painter, deep sea fisherman to owl breeder (incidentally I never knew the collective term was a ‘parliament’ of owls. Something new every day), was aided by its monochrome presentation, visualising diverse caricatures in their element:
“Choosing to install only monochrome images meant many photographers chose original 35mm prints,” says Sabrina, “placing the collective in the context of traditional film photojournalists. Working in a classic way allowed us to settle very happily against our usual West Country backdrop. But relocating to such an extreme so successfully shows that our work has a place in the universal media.”
Certainly if you consider one of Sabrina’s own shots as a gracious nod to Shoreditch’s exclusive party scene (pictured above). It's an up-close shot of a reveller at infamous club night ‘Catface’ - where one is expected to draw whiskers on one's face. The protagonist’s whiskers have all but wiped away, her eyes look longingly down the lens, hinting at the rough time of night and her contented state of mind at the point of snapping. Despite her obvious exhaustion it is a warm, loving, lingering look.
Such an approach transcends Pig House Pictures’ work – the insightful graft of 40 emerging photographers from the college. There is a calm of complexity surrounding each artistically flawless image. I imagine it’s a cliché in the world of photojournalism to say the pictures tell a thousand stories, but what can I say? They do. Presented with an enigmatic face and a sometimes bizarre context, one’s mind paints the tiniest doldrums of a fascinating and as-yet-unconsidered life to canvas.
Check out the Platform Bar + Terrace tomorrow in Netil House, off Mare Street, and see what tales you can chase.
Words Jonathan Bright.
http://www.spoonfed.co.uk/spooners/spoonfed-arts-team-8139/pig-house-pictures-the-uncontained-edition-6998/
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