Lizzie Maughan - Emeriti

About

Jam Factory Arts presents a series of photographic portraits by contemporary photographer, Lizzie Maughan. In 2010 Exeter College, Oxford commissioned Lizzie Maughan to photograph its Emeritus Fellows for its archive, and Emeriti is the striking collection of black and white photographs that resulted. The series provides a rare and privileged glimpse into the academic community of an Oxford college. The status of Emeritus Fellow is granted to those senior members of a college who retire in post or who serve 18 years in fellowship. Many are distinguished scholars and teachers and all have contributed distinctively to the character of the college. Lizzie's work falls ostensibly within traditional portrait photography however her work betrays unexpected quirks that subtly disturb the conventions of the genre. Despite employing traditional analogue photographic methods, shooting with a Hasselbad 35mm camera and processing prints in a darkroom, Lizzie's approach produces a body of work which sits at odds with traditional portraiture. Some images in this collection record the tension inherent in a sitter's awkwardness at being photographed while others preserve fleeting expressions that the sitter isn't consciously aware of making. Emeriti captures an intriguing and unexpected perspective on Lizzie's subjects, one that attempts to disrupt the coherence of surface and to reveal the restless disjunction of the portrayed subject.