Still still far wide / Mal Woolford

About

Following a three-week run at MyGallery in Dover, Mal Woolford’s haunting photographic show Still Still Far Wide will pop up at the Magic Gallery in Charing Cross Underground Arcade from 29th November to 1st December.

Listening Party: Still Still Far Wide live soundscape performance by Paul Cheneour and Haresh Patel
Friday 30 November, 7.30pm (booking via
Eventbrite)
Artist Talk: Mal Woolford in conversation with Karen Harvey
Saturday 01 December, 4.00pm, (booking via Eventbrite)

Inspired by King Lear, the epic story of estrangement and the disintegration of the realm, Mal Woolford’s haunting stills from Shakespeare Cliff capture the national mood of uncertainty and fear. Rugged cliff- tops and crumbling rocks give way to long shadows and sunlight fighting its way through the bleak landscape.

“In winter, this sliver of the Kent cliffs presents an austere frozen landscape that’s undercut by the Eurotunnel. There are glimpses of the land of Lear and back further to an ancient, almost alien, landscape.”

Mal Woolford spent the winter working with the support of storytelling group Dover Tales, veteran actor Chris Burke and emerging talent Rhianna Jacobs of Dover Youth Theatre. Together with sound designer Haresh Patel, he made windswept field recordings and teamed with flautist Paul Cheneour to create soundscapes for the exhibition. The result is a stunning show that draws parallels between the fears of the past and current trepidation about the future.

“Shakespeare borrowed freely from his sources to speak to the political uncertainties of his time. In the same way, I have treated Lear lightly to find ours, haunted with old ideas and forgetful of how to make and sustain peace and growth.”

The project started as a close observation of a pocket of landscape and became a search for signs of renewal. The exhibition at the Magic Gallery in London will open on 29th November for three days.

Mal Woolford (born in 1966 in Surrey) is a self-taught photographer who shoots on film and processes in the family kitchen. Known for his cinematic style, his short films have been selected at Cannes Film Festival and have screened in the UK and internationally.