THE first exihibition of the new year at MK Gallery Project Space launched last week.
woMEn is the culmination of workshops commissioned back in 2011 by Inter-Action.
Artist Elizabeth Beston, who you might know as ShutterBetty, worked with two groups of local ladies, and plenty of those participants had been supported by the St Francis’ Children’s Society’s Birth Connections Project, which offers support and counselling to birth families living without their children.
The workshops allowed those involved to both contemplate and express their individual, highly personal experiences.
ShutterBetty was the perfect candidate to lead the way in the workshops – she works primarily with self-portraiture and used her knowledge to support those offering their ideas and feelings: “I use photographic self-portraiture intertwined with images of found objects, places and moments to contemplate our existence – the unlikeliness of it, the beauty of it, the things that connect us with our ancestors, other organisms and the universe.”
While ShutterBetty ensured participants had creative control over the portrayal of their images, they had only one opportunity to capture those ideas, shooting just one single frame with a large-format camera, like this one, titled ‘Every Day is a Spin Cycle.’
The photographs on display are ‘personal, imaginative and revealing,’ ShutterBetty promises.
Next Thursday (Jan 17) a preview event gives all female visitors the chance to get in the frame and contribute to the exhibition by creating their own self-portrait, alternatively create your own* and email it to shutterbettyuk@gmail.com
Submissions will be featured on the blog womenmk.wordpress.com
*Images no less than 72ppi and 500pixels wide