-
Found photographs of lamping share the gallery space recognising them as equal to the great hunting depictions of art history. "The care and precision of the compositions of these dogs and the spoils of the hunt in these beautiful photographs by local young men captured on their phones are proof of a continued inherited art historical legacy embedded in our collective memory.” RA
Exhibition
No Place Like Home
21 Oct 2021 – 20 Nov 2021
Regular hours
- Monday
- Closed
- Tuesday
- Closed
- Wednesday
- 11:00 – 18:00
- Thursday
- 10:00 – 18:00
- Friday
- 10:00 – 18:00
- Saturday
- 10:00 – 18:00
- Sunday
- Closed
Address
- 210 High Street
- Swansea
Wales - SA1 1PE
- United Kingdom
Richard Ansett imagines a mythical kingdom existing in parallel to Swansea pulling back the wizard's curtain in this testimony to the artist's gaze.
About
In this new body of work created between lockdowns, renowned photographic artist Richard Ansett brings his existential practice to Swansea in a self-initiated residency supported by UWTSD Swansea College of Art. Ansett imagines a mythical kingdom existing in a parallel universe to the city and pulls back the wizard’s curtain in this testimony to the artist gaze.
Walking a narrow path between art and realist record, Ansett invites us to empathise with the dislocation that drives his unique interpretation of reality and in doing so reflect on the possibilities outside of our experience. Ansett’s presents subjects as allegorical beings in this exhibition that invites us to glimpse at an alternate reality.
Life is presented as a constant negotiation with a vast, ambivalent universe presenting the attrition of life on our fragile bodies as a more authentic definition of beauty. Survival is celebrated whilst shining a light on the normalisation of brutality that pervades all of contemporary society especially for those on the margins.
Biography
Overall winner of Photographic Art at the 7th Arte Laguna Prize and 1st Prize winner of the Sony World Photography Awards, Richard Ansett is recognised for a relentless passion for the medium as a vital and present art form for the examination of self and society. His practice embraces all work that challenges the reductive narrative of conventional documentation. A mental health advocate, committed to person centred and Gestalt practices and a Samaritan volunteer for 18 years supporting the most vulnerable in society, his work is deeply affected by an empathy founded in realism.
Ansett writes, curates, talks, and mentors, collaborating in the production of new work that responds to the realities of peoples lives. He is a passionate defender of art as an essential medium offering a voice to the voiceless and recognising the enormous value to all being seen and heard.