November 20, 2024 |
The latest exhibition on show at Dalston’s 1014 Gallery is an ode to community and connection. Organised by Thursday’s Child – a production company committed to platforming unrepresented image makers from across the globe – the display is aptly titled Holding Space.
According to co-curator and 1014’s special projects manager, Jamie Allan Shaw, the display is inspired by the community that goes hand in hand with the act of platforming photography. “There is a pipeline between artists and the ecosystems [that] brands cultivate around them,” says Allan Shaw. “I’ve had countless conversations about navigating these opportunities as sometimes they feel tokenised or thin on the ground. It had me thinking about support systems and how collectively we are reacting to that.” What grew from this, aided by conversations with Shaw’s co-curators Ashleigh Kane and Daphne Chouliaraki Milner, was the idea to build out a display that was themed on the importance of support systems and photography that champions that.
The next step for this curatorial crack team? Sniff out stories from photographers across the globe with this theme as their common thread. “We spent a lot of time selecting a long list of artists from the 300+ who are part of Thursday’s Child, particularly looking at photographers who were developing bodies of work with communities,” says Kane. After consulting an expert panel who helped further refine the list, the team landed on upcoming talents Ana Margarita Flores, Kirk Lisaj, Raajadharshini, Sophie Stafford and Tirtha Lawati.
photography by Kirk Lisaj
“We were looking for work that felt like it could tell a story,” says Kane – a mission statement that feels successful after deep diving into the selected projects. Avoiding unnecessary froth, each one is earnestly developed and full of heart. London-based, Peruvian-Swiss born Flores uses her photography to focus on the women that populate the Maras and Moray Andean communities in Cusco, Peru. Lisaj, who’s based between Montreal and Toronto, roots his work in an exploration of the queer experience on 21st century dancefloors. Tamil-born Raajadharshini now resides in London and captures the human reliance on water, particularly in communal spaces across India. Safeguarding cultural heritage and community nostalgia are the themes emphasised by East Yorkshire-based Stafford, whose project is centred around New Western Bingo, an independent bingo club destroyed by a fire in 2016. Of British-Nepali heritage, Lawati communicates feelings of love and belonging through his portraits of Britain’s young Nepali diaspora.
from left to right: photography by Tirtha Lawati, Raajadharshini, and Ana Margarita Flores
“There are many urgent and valid reasons as to why people might be feeling that society is in a perilous state. There’s no denying that this is true: there are bleak times ahead for society, humanity and the planet,” says Chouliaraki Milner of what she hopes viewers will take away from the exhibition. Intended to “serve as a small reminder of the importance of support structures – of community, of care, of mutual aid – especially during times as polarising and fragmented as these,” Holding Space is a reminder to do just that; hold space, for your friends, your family and your community. Poignant and painfully relevant, the exhibition’s message is one, ultimately, of hope. Emphasising the strength that can be found in coming together and opening oneself up to the experience of others, this photographic showcase is a thing of beauty in more ways than one.
Photography courtesy of 1014 Gallery.
photography by Sophie Stafford
