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June 1st - 8th 2012 6 - 10pm

@ Enjoy Art Space, Mabgate, Leeds.

LS9 7DZ

intro

in tro ducti on

The role of a documentary photographer in modern Western society has changed from the days of the traditional photojournalist. The impact of rapidly advancing technology means the images we see in newspapers have often been caught by ‘citizen journalists’ on camera phones or compact digital cameras, in the right place at the right time. Photographers are evolving, adapting and finding new ways to tell stories of people, their lives, and the environment they inhabit. They do what others cannot do with a camera; they spend time learning to understand, build a relationship with their subject and as a result create honest, insightful and in depth documents.

Four emerging documentary photographers based in Leeds are negotiating these unusual times through their own long term projects. Their subject matter is diverse, but is united by each individuals commitment to portraying the people and places involved in their own unique way.

The resulting exhibition, opening Friday June 1st at enjoy art space, tells their story so far.

Kyla Lynskey Sofia Coombs

Aaron Hargreaves Hannah Reynolds

kyla spread

Everyone can relate to the stressful time that comes when moving home. Homes are places that we invest and hold so many precious memories, but moving away can also reaffirm how special and painful these times really were over the years.

‘22 Years’ is a project in which Lynskey invites us to delve deeper into her images and discover more about the house she has lived in all her life, marking this important time in which her and her dad would be soon leaving. The relationship breakdown between her parents that happened at the age of 14 make the move a fresh start for them. The intimate photographs in this series which follow are being used as a way to come to terms with what she herself is leaving behind but also act as an investigation into how images can do much more than merely act as a record of the physical.

Kyla Lynskey

sofiaspread

Images from your childhood depict for most a happy and carefree time spent with your closest family and for the lucky ones these natural tight bonds continue for the rest of your life.

Living with Kerstin is a personal project in which Sofia Coombs uses the medium of photography to observe and document her own mothers life. Documentary photography is the ability to understand and connect with your subject matter, this project sees the photographer trying to re build a broken relationship. The images give an insight into an unusual way of living as a method of her trying to comprehend why her mother is this way and perhaps capture some of the reason which led them to drift apart. A life so different to what we see here in these images, it is hard to make a connection between the two decades. Aided by Coombs’ thoughtful images we try to understand what happened to these two individuals.

Sofia Coombs

aaron spread

Life is filled with differences, in so many aspects throughout our lives we create lines in which we feel at ease within and identify against, it helps us to feel like we belong. The issues that are caused when these boundaries become blurred have inspired Aaron Hargreaves most recent body of work. When his true sexuality met with his catholic faith that was imprinted in him as a child, a crack was created.

Meet Me in the Middle has been developed over the past year, in conjunction with All Hallows Church in Hyde Park, an openly inclusive Church that celebrates diversity. When he first heard about the church it was a revelation because he was certain it was a side of himself he could no longer hold as pure and positive. By immersing himself at Sunday mass each week at church he has met a community of people that have not handed down any judgements. By bringing together these factors to his identity, the images which are showcased here for the first time show a visual style at work, which speaks of how it is in fact okay to not be defined by one or the other.

Aaron Hargreaves

hannah spread

In her latest body of work, Hannah Reynolds investigates the small East Anglian town of Newmarket, internationally renowned as the epicentre of horse racing. With one in every three of the fifteen thousand residents employed on some level of the industry, from stable owners and skilled professionals to stable lads, horse racing is intertwined with every single element of the community. Over the past year, she has attempted to document the industry itself- the studs and saddleries that make the sport possible, and the atmosphere of a race day itself- and the impact that such a heavy reliance on one rather unusual industry has on the past, present and future of Newmarket.

Hannh Reynolds

exhibition info

Acknowledgments

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