AWAY 

two young photographers exhibiting essays (medium format work)

Art Jericho presents AWAY, a photographic exhibition encapsulating different notions of absence.  This is a joint show featuring works by photographers, Sharon Boothroyd and Tim Crooks. In bringing together two different aspects of absence this exhibition portrays the impact of loss on individuals and society alike.
Sharon Boothroyd’s photographs explore the emotions and issues regarding the removal of the father from domestic family life in the series If you get married again, will you still love me? Sharon Boothroyd gathered memories of words spoken to separated fathers by their children.  She then produced visual representations of these phrases, drawing upon emotions the child may have been dealing with at the time. The images, which operate like film stills, give access to private and intimate moments.  In their honesty these photographs portray common relational struggles with disappointment, anger, over-compensation and jealousy.
Tim Crooks’ practice involves an ongoing documentation of “the institution” which has primarily focused on the environment within the asylum. West Park Asylum (opened in the 1920s and closed in the 1990s) was, as David Cochrane has said, envisioned as “the last great asylum built for London’s insane“. Housing over 2000 psychiatric patients at one time, it now lays abandoned, awaiting redevelopment, a favourite destination for the contemporary pastime of urban exploration. Forsaken medical apparatus and ex-patients' personal items bear witness to the history of this once complex social space. The viewer is invited to contemplate the metaphorical implications for both mental health and institutionalisation in a broader sense.

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