Instant Coffees. Session 5 by IC Visual Lab

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© Instant coffees, 2011 Edition and production: Instant coffees Researcher: Alejandro Acín Designer and layout: María Carolina Sandoval Photography cover: Maria Gruzdeva On-line publish: www.issue.com instantcoffees.wordpress.com All rights reserved.

On-line catalogue

Session 5 September 2011

Instant coffees Editorial

Following the slightly altered format of last session, which we think worked really well, we had only 7 individual photographer slideshows this time, with the added bonus of a presentation by photographer Jamie Carstairs in which he described to us the project on which he has been working for the last five years entitled “Picturing China”. This collection of pre 1950s photographs of China held some fascinating images and for those whose appetites were whetted there are plenty more on the project website. We also had some stark, location specific black and white documentary images as well as glimpses at Albania, Mexico, Yakutia in Siberia, Bangladesh and Lebanon. Our discussion covered issues relating to the representation of violence and loss and the relative merits of more or less explicit methods of doing so. In all a very powerful and quite emotional session. It doesn’t seem like ten months ago when we fired up the projector for the first session of Instant coffees. In that time, we’ve seen excellent work from fifty two photographers of all styles from intimate personal portraiture to large scale documentary and landscapes and pretty much everything inbetween. Much of the work has been marked not only by its technical and compositional quality but also by its emotional resonance and depth. There have been intense family portraits from Deanna Dikeman with “Leaving and Waving”, Briony Campbell with “The Dad Project” and Alicja Dobrucka with “I like you, I like you a lot”. There has been the fantastic documentary work of Ian Teh’s “Dark Clouds”, the wonderful, vibrant pigeons and their owners of Ricardo Cases’ “Paloma al aire”, the luminous glimpses into the lives of illegal Hispanics in the USA afforded by Seba Kurtis’ “700 Miles” and the dreamlike black and white fragments of Mikel Ibarrola “Pasos”.

The singling out of these artists is by no means an attempt to select a ‘best of’ but simply to stress the breadth of work we have been lucky enough to experience since we began this journey. We have also spread our wings from our home in Bristol and travelled to Spain for a Special screening at Zaragoza Photo 2011 and held a well received Special edition at the Roof Unit studio space in Bethnal Green as part of Photomonth East London. Also we have been invited by Emergent Lleida Photo-Festival to choose one of their finalist to produce a multimedia piece, During the course of the year we have met some wonderful people, with whom we have had stimulating and enlightening discussions about the theory and practice of photography and most of all we’ve been invigorated and inspired by the amount of interest and enthusiasm all round. With this in mind we are extremely positive for the future of Instant coffees and are looking forward to discovering and being surprised by more personal works in the coming months. Thanks everyone!

JAMIE CARSTAIRS VISUALISING CHINA

Picturing China This exhibition, organised by the Chinese Maritime Customs project, and funded by the AHRC with sponsorship from John Swire & Sons Ltd., showcased photographs of life in China before 1950 in the possession of families or descendants of Chinese and British men and women who formerly lived there. Lodged away in attics and cupboards, these images include snapshots of expatriate social life, scenes of everyday Chinese life, and records of momentous political events. Altogether they form a unique virtual archive for China, where wars and revolutions inflicted great damage on the sites and ways of life recorded, and destroyed much of the stock of historic visual and other records. The ‘Historical Photographs of China’ team at the University of Bristol has been sourcing and digitising such archives of images, and placing them online as a public resource at the Historical Photographs of China project website. Taken together the photographs provide many glimpses of the lost Chinese past, and telling evidence of the complex intimacy of British relations with China before 1950. WEBSITE: http://visualisingchina.net/

STUART MATTHEWS CHANGING TIDES: AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE

Stuart Matthews (b.1984, England) graduated from Plymouth University in 2007 after being selected a finalist of the Ilford Student Photographer of the Year. During his final year he travelled to China to document this new and evolving super power of the 21st century, Stuart covered Kosovo’s independence in 2008 and later that year interned at NOOR Images. Since then, he has made various trips to document the impact of Climate Change in Bangladesh and the effect that this is having on communities living on the frontline. He was funded as part of the IdeasTap / Magnum Photos Photographic Award 2010 to continue his work there. Stuart Matthews is represented by INVISION Images and is based in United Kingdom. Changing Tides: An Uncertain Future Bangladesh lies at the forefront of Climate Change. Its vulnerable low-lying landscape is susceptible to Cyclones and destructive river erosion created by the acceleration of Glacier melting from the Himalayas and the seasonal Monsoon rains. In May 2009 Cyclone Aila tore across the south-western coast of Bangladesh destroying more than 700km (434 miles) of coastal embankments and wiping out thousands of homes, leaving over 40,000 people marooned on the embankments and forced to take refuge in shelters. 18 months on since Cyclone Aila struck, the people of Koyra have continued to develop their land to protect themselves against these ever threatening changes in climate. The completion of the Shikaribari Ring Dam in January 2010 has allowed the majority of the community to return to their homes and begin to rebuild their lives. Still, around 875 people remain in temporary shelters along the embankments as their land is still inaccessible due to flooding. The unpredictable weather shifts pose a severe threat and uncertain future for the people living on the frontline of climate change. Many still keep their belongings packed as they know how quickly the weather and landscape can change, forcing them to seek refuge once again. WEBSITE: www.stuartmatthews.eu

DAVID HORNILLOS PRINCIPE PIO

David Hornillos (Madrid, 1974). He has graduated in Law, he was studying documentary photography in Blank Paper School in Madrid. His work has been exhibited in Peer2Peer Gallery in Madrid, Blank Paper Space, Museo de Bellas Artes of Castellón, grupal exhibition called Mapping - Flaneur in Londres.

Principe Pio Principe Pio is a project about the necessity of taking pictures around a specific and delimited territory. Principe Pio, a train station in Madrid (Spain), is the scenery where the author was exploring around to propose a personal and emotional portrait of the place and people. WEBSITE: www.davidhornillos.es

ARMANDO RIBEIRO DEPRESSIVE LANDSCAPES

Armando was born in 1976 in Angola, but had to flee with his family soon after amidst rising tensions and civil war. His childhood was spent dreaming about travelling and discovering long lost ancient civilisations, a passion that evolved into taking photographs of everything surrounding him - and trying to portray the issues that humanity faces within these modern societies. His work explores concepts relating to changing landscape, global environment and the human condition. He is especially drawn to the ever mutating landscape, be it man made or natural - the jarring juxtaposition of countryside and urban environments. Armando currently lives and works in London. Depressive Landscapes Depression is a word that describes economical, social or even personally states of emptiness; in this days, landscape stands as one of the things that has suffered more changes within the human sphere… Not just the urban landscape but also the countryside are in a constant process of mutation. The concept of no place has been subject of several sociological studies in order to understand the changes on the man relationship with the surrounding environment, be it urban or not and how this affects the way people relate with their peers. Often the passage through “no mans land” takes us to nowhere but sometimes we find ourselves standing on a small green patch between two buildings or simply on a road with a extraordinary view that makes us reflect about the simple things in life… WEBSITE: www.arribphoto.com

CHIARA TOCCI LIFE AFTER ZOG AND OTHER STORIES

Chiara Tocci is an Italian photographer living in the UK. She gained her bachelor’s degree in Media and Journalism in Florence and moved to the UK to study Documentary Photography at the University of Wales, Newport, where she graduated in 2010. Chiara is the recipient of the Marco Pesaresi award and the winner of the Portrait Commission at the National Museum Wales and National Portrait Gallery. Life after Zog and other stories Early ninetis. South of Italy. I witnessed streams of Albanians docking on the coast of my hometown, after brutal and disillusive journey. Running away from the future they couldn’t hope for, towards something equally obscure and complex, they spread all over Europe. Their stories, imagined and pressumed, crowned my thoughts: who did they leave behind and what were they longing for? After year of fascination of this enigmatic land and its people became a photography journey for me in remotes areas of High Albania. For the people of these areas time almost stood still. “Life after Zog” is an exploration of an enchanted place inhabited by people who share the land with their ancestors’ ghosts. A place with no time. It is like time and history is abruptly stopped, without however forgetting to bury blood feuds and spread melancholic desillutions. WEBSITE: www.chiaratocci.com

EVGENIA ARBUGAEVA TIKSI

Evgenia was born in Siberian town Tiksi in Russia. She received BA degree in art management from International University in Moscow. In 2009 graduated from International Center of Photography Photojournalism and Documentary Program. She now works as a freelance photographer between Russia and New York. Tiksi Tiksi is a small village located on a shore of Arctic ocean in Russia. It was built in USSR by people who believed in the future of the Arctic who were coming from all over the country driven by the romantic dream of far North: Scientists, explorers, the military. I was born here and after fall of Soviet Union my family, as most of the population left Tiksi. But I could never forget this place with it’s tundra blown off with strong winds, so strong that if you are a little girl it can easily pick you up and bring to places. My playground with stars above during polar night, lighthouse in a blizzard… This year I came back here for the first time in almost twenty years. It was a journey to surreal childhood memories. Some people say that Tiksi will be closed in near future, because it doesn’t serve a purpose anymore, before that happened I wanted to capture this special place “in the middle of nowhere”. WEBSITE: www.evgeniaarbugaeva.com

DALIA KHAMISSY LEBANON´S MISSING

Born in Beirut, Dalia Khamissy receives a diploma in photography from the Universite SaintEsprit Kaslik in 1999. Her work revolves mostly around the social and socio-political stories in the Mid-East region. In 2005 she works as a photo editor for the Associated Press in Beirut for nearly 2 years before quitting end of 2006 after the Israeli offensive on Lebanon and its aftermath. Since then she is back to documenting mostly the aftermath of Lebanon’s wars and social issues, especially those concerning women rights Khamissy’s pictures have been exhibited widely in Europe, South America, US and the MENA region and are regularly published in the international press. She is represented by the Empty Quarter Gallery, Dubai. Her photographs are in the permanent collection of the Institut du Monde Arabe. Lebanon’s missing I was seven years old when my father was kidnapped in 1981; three days later he was set free. Many years later, I understood he was luckier than the others. 17,000 people remain officially missing in Lebanon while their families still await their return. They all disappeared during the Lebanese civil war in 1975-90; they were abducted or killed at the hands of different Lebanese militias, Syria, or Israel and their allies. The kidnapped were from diverse creeds, gender, ages and political persuasions. My project to date has focused on documenting the story of the ‘missing’ in all its aspects. I visited few families of the kidnapped, documented their lives and their ongoing struggle, took pictures of the preserved belongings of their missing.

I also documented a few locations of mass graves that were stated in some reports or admitted by ex-militants who told their stories. Landscapes in the mountain, the capital, the cities and the surrounding villages - even the Mediterranean Sea was used as a silent mass grave. People keep saying, ‘the whole Lebanese soil is planted with mass graves’. WEBSITE: www.daliakhamissy.com

FERNANDO BRITO YOUR STEPS WERE LOST IN THE LANDSCAPE

Fernando Brito was born in Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico, and studied marketing at the Universidad de Occidente Culiacán. Since 2004, he has been photography editor of the newspaper El Debate de Culiacán. Among his honors are acknowledgments at the 12th Biennial of Visual Arts Northwest in 2009, and the Biennial of the Image Center in 2010. Brito was selected for the Mexican Expo Foto Periodismo in 2010 and 2011, General News 3rd Prize Stories in the World Press Photo, Descubrimientos PhotoEspaña 2011. Your steps were lost in the landscape The series reflect on how in these times, when violence has become part of everyday life, death becomes just another spectacle. Leaving conscience and values behind, it invades the streets and bursts into people’s conversations, as if its presence was something normal. In this time when death is so ordinary that it becomes part of the landscape and words don’t become deeds, Brito took pictures of executed corpses abandoned outside the city. In this context, so different from today’s image of violence, he portrays these lifeless bodies in their quest for the solitude of death. Fernado Brito tries to create awareness about how harsh this reality actually is, and about the enormous impact it has on society. His images do not get carried away by the end of the scene, not wallow in the sleaze of the murdered body. The really disturbing point of his pictures is the clean, quiet and distant treatment.

Many thanks for everyone who have collaborated with Instant coffees. You also can follow us on the blog instantcoffees.wordpress.com and facebook.