1 Feb 2014 - 6 Apr 2014
Slide show: 
Sam Dransfield Ryan Gibson Paolo Monti Aleksandra Zawada
The Work in Progress series presents the photography of artists working for sustained periods with Stills' production facilities and residency programmes in order to raise awareness of the caliber of their works and to encourage their collection. The works in this exhibition employ techniques of refraction, juxtaposition, montage and alternative photographic processes which challenge the viewer to read multiple images at one time.
Through the photographic process of cyanotype, the works of Sam Dransfield are created during travel for extended periods of time to create objects which retain temporal traces of their own journey. These themes are further explored by Ryan Gibson who’s montage images combine diverse visual styles of representation within extended historical periods. Paolo Monti’s series ‘99% Human’ initially appears to depict the familiar narrative of the primate species in their natural habitat, yet further examination of the content of the images subtly reveals a much more complex and concerning reality. During a visit to Beijing, China, Aleksandra Zawada initially undertook her series ‘Green Book’ as a casual passer-by noting the sublime qualities of the everyday urban landscape abutting the highways and byways and only on reflection realised their resonance with the works of influential post-impressionist painter Henri Rousseau.
In each of these works, the artists experiment with our assumptions of the language of photography and the highly potent subject of landscape and environment to offer us new readings of the work around us. Sam Dransfield (1989, UK); Ryan Gibson (1988, UK); Paolo Monti (1987, Italy); Aleksandra Zawada (1982, Poland)
Constructions of Landscape Work in Progress 3 is kindly sponsored by Schiehallion and is supported by a New Arts Sponsorship Grant from Arts and Business, Scotland.
Artists’ biographies:
Sam Dransfield (1989 UK) received a BA (Hons) in Fine Art Photography at Glasgow School of Art in 2012 from which he received the Alice Duncan Travel Award and subsequently in 2013 spent two months living between various Japanese households and traversing the Japanese landscape via the connecting powerlines. Recent exhibitions include ‘You, You and You’ at Peckham Springs, London; ‘Friday Late - Peckham Takeover’, at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; 'New Firm' Candid Arts Trust, London; 'Futureproof' at StreetLevel Photoworks, Glasgow, Gracefield Arts Centre, Dumfries & Galloway. August - October 2012. This year Dransfield is embarking on new projects in Knoydart, as well as Israel and Menorca. Sam Dransfield received Stills’ Graduate Award for 2012 – 2013.
www.samdransfield.com
Ryan Gibson (1988, UK) received a BA (Hons) in Photography & Film from Napier University in 2011 and his work has featured in exhibitions throughout the UK and is held within a number of private collections. His practice explores the talismanic nature of artefacts, such as souvenirs, family photographs and archival image, as a means of mapping places. He predominantly uses photography within his practice and is concerned with the personal and formal relationship between memory and object. Gibson is currently working on a collaborative photographic project documenting the Anglo-Scottish Border; alongside continuing to progress the works he developed as a result of his participation in the Stills AiR residency programme. Ryan Gibson participated in Stills and Fondazione Fotografia AiR residency in 2012.
www.ryanpgibson.co.uk
Paolo Monti (1987, Italy) studied photography at CFP Bauer, Milan, before completing a Masters degree on contemporary photography at Fondazione Fotografia, Modena. He was invited to carry out the campaign for the documentation of the Mountain Photo Festival of Aosta and the Cultural District of Valle Camonica and his work has been shown in solo, as well as group exhibitions, and his images are held in major public and private photographic collections in Italy. He assisted Gabriele Basilico in 2009. Paolo Monti participated in Stills and Fondazione Fotografia AiR residency in 2010. http://www.fondazionefotografia.it/en/exhibition/international-departure...
Aleksandra Zawada (1982, Poland) lives and works in Edinburgh. She graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in 2011, retraining as an artist after studying Medical Science in Medical University in Gdansk (2004). She was awarded 2011 RSA Barns-Graham Travel Scholarship and Andrew Grand Travel Scholarship 2009. Recent exhibitions include New Work (2013), Here/Now (2012), 186th Royal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition (2012). She has also exhibited in China (site specific project in Beijing in 2011), Japan (2009), where she studied in 2009/10, and Edinburgh: Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop (2013 & 2012), Hunted Projects (2011), Edinburgh College of Art (2011 & 2009), Window on Talent (2010) and Edinburgh International Festival in 2008. Aleksandra Zawada has recently returned from her AiR residency with Stills and Fondazione Fotografia, Italy. http://www.aleksandrazawada.com/photography.html
Image credit: 绿皮书 (Lǜ pí shū) Green (Paper) Book (2011 – 2012) Aleksandra Zawada. Courtesy the artist.