New and recent work by William Arnold, Myka Baum and Melanie King in an exhibition titled ‘O’.
The exhibition runs in the Garden Room Gallery until May 9
The theme of the circle is depicted in William Arnold’s Tin-can Firmaments through the circular shaped image that is the nature of the tin-can pinhole camera. The photographs are the result of months-long exposure of the sky and function at both macro and micro level. They reference some grounding or basis in the scientific method that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions of forms in the universe, yet originate from a largely emotionally driven catalyst; rather than depicting events they represent the conditions of light and time in which events took place. A new body of micro-photographs intend to add a further dimension to the work.
At the core of Melanie King’s practice are celestial bodies which form both the subject as well as the cause of her work. Recent photogravures of our planet earth and moon are shown alongside night sky cyanotypes. Melanie is concerned with the visual language that is currently associated with astronomy. Her practice maintains an ongoing obsession with circularity from the micro to the macro scale, focusing on the emblem of the bubble as metaphor for the brevity of life.
Myka Baum’s practice is concerned with the fragility of nature. Her Worm Tracings are the starting points of an in-depth study of earthworms which intends to re-think our relationship with this vital yet overlooked species. The images are records of the worms’ passage within the circularity that is representational of our earth and is also characteristic of the action of worms. The delicate traces echo their vulnerability caused by man. The earthworm is an exemplary advocate for a circular economy and key contributor to our planetary wellbeing which will be depicted via a bronze of its castings on a set of scales.