Relics | Alex Stone In Conversation With Liz Gorman

About

Relics imagines thermoformed plastic packaging as an accidental hieroglyphic language - as it might be interpreted by a future civilisation. Discarded plastic was collected, placed on photographic paper and then exposed to light, revealing the intricacies of the material. Documenting the plastic in this way hints at its fragility - we are shown its fissures and bubbles. However we are also reminded, somewhat paradoxically, of the unsettling permanence of plastic; it will outlive not only the observer but even the photographic print itself.

The textural quality brought out by the process of making a photogram exposes human intervention on the planet, the traces we have left throughout history in order to leave our mark. This exhibition is intended as a sombre memorial to our present times, and a reverential reflection on our unintended monument of plastic.

Liz's work employs cameraless photographic techniques to explore the ways in which documentary images can be made, with a focus on objects, experimental installation and artistic-political discourse.

Originally from Liverpool, and now based in South East London, she graduated from Camberwell College of Art in 2012. ​She is currently a co-director at The Gate Darkroom, a community run photographic darkroom, pop-up gallery and studio.

Alex Stone is a London based artist who uses analogue photography and casting techniques to question temporality and trace. Using these early processes of mass production, she explores how labour and time involved in hand production relate and sit in opposition to the fast paced nature of contemporary city life. Her work is site specific and she has exhibited in a range of spaces from underground carriages and stairwells to white walled galleries. She is currently working on Potholes a group residency and exhibition in London and Liverpool which will be at SET Space Lewisham in April.

She is a Co-director of The Gate Darkroom in Woolwich and a Lecturer at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

For more information please see www.alexmstone.com or instagram @alexmstone_

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