Virginia Woods-Jack - co-curated UK exhibition

Lay of the Land - Women in Photography

Kapwani Kiwanga, Dafna Talmor, Tamara Dean, Odette England, Brooke Holm, Virginia Woods-Jack, Katie Breckon, Siobhan McDonald, Meghann Riepenhoff, Katrin Koenning, Peta Clancy and Rhiannon Adam

Informality Gallery, Henley-on-Thames, UK

15 October - 24 November 2020

Curated by Informality and Virginia Woods-Jack (founder of Women in Photography AU & NZ)

Women in Photography - Lay of the Land, was developed from the metaphorical meaning of ‘Mother Nature’ as a life force and its omnipresent nurturing energy. Each of the female artists' explore the medium of photography, drawing inspiration from aspects in their own environments, the selected works investigate each of the artists’ relationship to land and identity, and how these are inextricably linked.

Throughout the exhibition, the artists’ look beyond a strictly representational image, Meghan Ripenhoff’s large, verso cyanotypes hang untraditionally and embrace chance as they continue to be altered by the environment, constantly evolving and revealing themselves. British artist, Dafna Talmor slices negatives from an analogue camera, reforming fragments from memories to create an imaginary destination. Irish artist, Siobhan McDonald investigates time and the fragility of our climate crisis, by creating photograms of specimens from the earliest plants on earth that speak to the importance of plants and the changing state of the Earth’s atmosphere.

Women in Photography - Lay of the Land, offers a mirror for us to examine our own lives, what does a landscape mean to us and what is it you see when you look at your surroundings, what emotions are evoked?