Johanna Love, a senior lecturer at the University of Northampton held her own exhibition titled, “Dust.” A display held to show her dedication to fine art and photography, that she has been working on for the past four years to gain her PHD.
The “Dust” photographic print work was the first to be exhibited at the Avenue campus gallery at the University of Northampton since it re-opened on 1 October.
When you walk around the room, it feels quite cold as the only colours surrounding the four walls are black and white. However, the photographs draw you in to the mystery of them.
All 17 images are photographs Love has taken but then distorted with pencil marks, which makes this exhibition so unique. Although you may be confused by the concept of disrupting a photograph with pencil, it makes you think and wonder the reasoning behind it all.
Love is said to have been inspired from once photocopying, where the dust laid on the glass. She also said: “[The exhibition] investigates the clash between our perception of the illusionist space of the photographic image and the simultaneous emphasis on the physical picture surface created by drawing of surface dust.”
From standing at the other side of the room, looking at the photographs, you can’t notice the pencil drawn detail – this makes me question whether Love is trying to tell us metaphorically that we do not always notice the obvious in front of us.
The photograph that was most intriguing was the very first one, named “Wir iegen auf dem Dach 4, 2008.” It reminded me of a hidden place in the woods, again representing the point that we do not notice what is really there.
Love shows clear passion in her work, keeping a clear theme throughout her research project. She achieves keeping interest in her audience by shadowing the real concept and making you think of your own meaning behind her work.