Sunday 28 September 2014

Today's the last day of the exhibition.

Stop reading this blog and get yourself down to Castle House, in the centre of Sheffield for your last opportunity to see this ground-breaking exhibition of photography, one which is accessible to those of you who are blind or partially sighted. 

It's open from 10.30am until 5pm this evening. We've already sold out of tactile images but you can still order one.

Thursday 25 September 2014

Insight Radio report of the Exhibition


Click on the image above to go to the podcast of a report by Allan Russell of the Royal National Institute of Blind People's Insight Radio on our exhibition, The Tactile Image, running until this coming Sunday.

Tuesday 23 September 2014

TV report of the exhibition

Ian White, of BBC TV's Look North, reports from our exhibition as it opens.

The exhibition is open daily up till and including next Sunday 28th September.

Thursday 18 September 2014

We're open for business

We have ourselves an exhibition. After an immense amount of work and organisation, The Tactile Image exhibition featuring photos by Clive Egginton and his friends is open to the public and you're invited. Check out the location and opening hours in the banner at the top of the page and come and see for yourself.

Clive's brother Paul and friend and colleague Marcus Sarko (back to us in the photo) were interviewed for a feature on Look North this evening. This link takes you to the BBC iPlayer site where you can watch the programme but hurry, it's only available until 6pm Friday evening. Scoot the slider at the bottom forward until it reads 21:07 to get to the start of the feature.

Wednesday 17 September 2014

A film to be shown during the exhibition


Factory Floor: An Archive Sheffield Film (FoTM Trailer) from Nathan Gibson on Vimeo.

Along with the photographic prints and their tactile equivalents on display, there will also be a short documentary film being shown in a dedicated area in the gallery.

In 2013, Clive began his residency at TSL Turtons, factory in Sheffield where they manufacture large metal springs. Over several months, Clive regularly returned to the factory, building up an extensive archive of documentary images and large format portraits. The project arose from his PhD research and as "Archivist in Residence" he worked alongside the men in the factory, documenting their day-to-day lives and working methods.  

In Clive's own words:
My particular concerns for the study are the apprentices: many of the workforce who command some of the key skills are very close to retirement and the company's longevity will rely on these skills being passed on.

As the project progressed it became apparent that the factory would also provide a fascinating subject for a short documentary film and, to this end, Clive invited his friends Nathan Gibson and Marcus Sarko to get involved. Filming throughout the winter of 2013 and into the New Year, the three gradually brought together the 15-minute film, Factory Floor, which will receive its third public outing as part of The Tactile Image exhibition.

A collection of the still images Clive shot during this project.

Tuesday 16 September 2014

A kid's interpretation of Dave Howe



This project began by asking Estudios Durero to create their Didú version of a one of Clive's photos of his close friend, Sheffield boxer Dave Howe. The purpose was to let Clive connect again with his passion for photography through touch, having lost his sight due to cancer.

The exhibition, opening in just two days time, will have twenty photos, from Clive and his friends, displayed with tactile images prepared by the RNIB. The artistic term is a diptych (not a dipstick, which is for measuring the oil in your car's engine). The centre piece was planned as the photo of Dave Howe, with the Spanish and RNIB versions of tactile images: a triptych.

But, at the last minute, we have a wonderful addition, another interpretation of rendering Dave Howe in tactile form. Visually impaired children from the Sheffield Royal Society for the Blind (SRSB) working together, have created their own version, so we have ourselves a tetraptych or quadriptych.
 
Clive first became involved with the various children’s groups at SRSB when he was working on interviews and photographs for Sheffield Archive. The groups who worked on the project have a range of sight conditions, from partially sighted to no functional vision. They were actively involved in selecting the different elements to make the picture, having discussions about which media would best represent different parts, such as the boxing gloves and the hair. 

The children worked on this image in two sessions, beginning by building the body and then later adding the papier maché and finally the paint and the ropes of the boxing ring. The people at the SRSB are very proud of the picture and the work of the children, and hope that it makes an interesting addition to the exhibition.


Monday 15 September 2014

Clive's Space


"What art offers is space – a certain breathing room for the spirit." 
John Updike

We have a space, generously donated by Sheffield University allowing Clive’s exhibition to be part of the Festival of the Mind taking place this September. It seems a touch churlish to say but the space was … let’s say not quite ready for the exhibition. With the clock ticking, Mick M calls his friend Dave B, a graphic designer who is also an accomplished and fastidious joiner to board up the space with sheets of OSB (oriented strand board, if you’re interested). It’s so well done, it’s a work of art in itself: a deconstruction of absence. With the bag and bits in the middle of the room, it evokes Carl Andre’s bricks at the Tate.


Never mind the emptiness though, over the next few days, we’ll be installing photos of Clive and his friends’ and the RNIB tactile equivalents along with a projected film and, from 18th, the gallery will be full of people too … will you be there?