Amelia’s Magazine | Middlesex University: Ba Hons Fashion Design, Styling and Promotion Graduate Show 2011 Review

Middlesex graduate show 2011-Fashion Strikes Back by Sufiyeh Hadian
Fashion Strikes Back by Sufiyeh Hadian.

I was a little unclear whether Fashion Design, buy Styling and Promotion that I saw on display were all part of the same course as I whipped through the upper halls of Free Range, web but I’ve decided to cover them in one blog nonetheless.

Middlesex graduate show 2011-Rosie Thompson-Agnew's At Your Disposal
I liked Rosie Thompson-Agnew‘s At Your Disposal, which featured brightly screen-printed luxury consumer goods. I guess this is a commentary on rampant consumerism – always an intriguing thing to tackle as someone studying fashion promotion.

Middlesex graduate show 2011-Fashion Strikes Back by Sufiyeh Hadian C-3POMiddlesex graduate show 2011-Fashion Strikes Back by Sufiyeh Hadian Darth Vadar
At the other end of the spectrum Sufiyeh Hadian had spray painted and encrusted some familiar Star Wars characters. I have no idea what it all means but I was most amused by these models of Darth Vadar and C-3PO. Fashion Strikes Back indeed.

From the fashion design on display the work of these three caught my eye:

Middlesex graduate show 2011-Elina Mourmouris
Elina Mourmouris has created lovely wide shapes for shoulders and legs combined with bright splash prints.

Middlesex graduate show 2011-Abigail Lee
Abigail Lee has also gone for the baggy look but in splodgy monochrome

Middlesex graduate show 2011 Michaela Phillips
Michaela Phillips did wide sleeves and splashy green with black and greys on a very appealing dress

Middlesex graduate show 2011-Louise Johnson
Louise Johnson opted for a spotty approach in oversized shirt form.

But. Not one website between them. Gah. I hope to do a bit of teaching at Middlesex University next year so here’s hoping I get a chance to talk a bit about the importance of an online presence. I have a feeling that I am going to be writing about this a lot when reviewing the graduate shows this year. Again.

Categories ,Abigail Lee, ,At Your Disposal, ,C-3PO, ,Darth Vadar, ,Elina Mourmouris, ,Fashion Design, ,Fashion Strikes Back, ,Free Range, ,Free Range Art and Design Show, ,Louise Johnson, ,Michaela Phillips, ,middlesex university, ,Rosie Thompson-Agnew, ,Star Wars, ,Styling and Promotion, ,Sufiyeh Hadian

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Amelia’s Magazine | New Designers 2011 Part One: Jewellery Graduate Show Review

New Designers review 2011-Michelle Scicluna Me Me Jewellery
Me Me Jewellery by Michelle Scicluna.

The jewellery section of New Designers also really brought home to me how important it is to see a university’s individual show where possible: when the work is crammed into such small stands it’s easy to miss the impact of an individual collection. I’ll be skipping those I’ve already covered in more detail: read about Central Saint Martins and Middlesex University in previous blogs (just click on the links).

New Designers review 2011-William Huynh
Having said everything above, viagra 100mg I did discover one jeweller that I missed at the Middlesex University Free Range show: William Huynh presented a great domed crystal in a gold winged bangle.

New Designers review 2011-Muireann WalsheNew Designers review 2011-Muireann Walshe
Muireann Walshe from the National College of Art and Design in Dublin won the Future Makers award for her unique broaches, inspired by historical finds from Ireland’s ancient history. Her jewellery is an echo of the famous Tara Brooch discovered at county Meath in 1850 and much copied in design. Muireann Walshe incorporates contemporary colour and pattern partly inspired by the Memphis School of design. Instead of a pin, these brooches are attached with magnets. I liked the fact that they were vaguely 80s, and also unlike anything else in the show. I’m always attracted to those designers who go out on a limb and don’t just follow trends.

New Designers review 2011-Hayley LambNew Designers review 2011-Hayley Lamb
New Designers review 2011-Hayley Lamb
At Truro College Hayley Lamb embedded fabric in her bold rings.

Emma Louise Simmonds, UCA, SGJ, crystallise necklace
Emma Louise Simmonds, UCA, SGJ, Platinum Bursary
Emma Louise Simmonds, UCA, SGJ, Nucleation Bracelet
From UCA Rochester Emma Louise Simmonds held centre stage with her stunning gems. She has developed a special new technique that challenges the usual methods of holding gemstones; using laser welding technology she traps cubic zirconia within metal casing without damaging the crystals, there by taking full advantage of the shape and cut of the gemstones.

New Designers review 2011-Emma Louise Simmonds
She has recently won a Goldsmith’s Craft and Design Council Award as well as Graduate Rising Star 2011 and I was most impressed with the press pack she pressed into my hands. Follow Emma Louise Simmonds on Twitter. Highly unusual and clever.

New Designers review 2011-Jong Bin Kim
Also from UCA Rochester Jong Bin Kim showed curvy jewellery that echoed the shapes of underwater sealife.

New Designers review 2011-Lucy Seddon's Paper Memories
At Sheffield Hallam Lucy Seddon‘s Paper Memories took a more ecological approach: material was sourced from old newspapers, maps and envelopes.

New Designers review 2011-Bucks New University Niti KhannaNew Designers review 2011-Bucks New University Niti Khanna
Moving on to Bucks New University Niti Khanna was inspired by Indian architecture – the domed shapes created in modern forms out of metals and acrylic using CAD design. Super cool, I’d love some of this jewellery for myself. Niti has recently accepted a job as a jewellery consultant and plans to head back to India shortly, but I hope that she does continue to design herself as she’s got something special.

New Designers review 2011-Duncan of Jordanstone Jessica Ruth HowarthNew Designers review 2011-Duncan of Jordanstone Jessica Ruth Howarth
At Duncan of Jordanstone Jessica Ruth Howarth‘s friend demonstrated how to lift her jewellery out of bespoke enamelled mini sculptures. Very sweet and different. I love enamelling, but there was barely a whisper of it at this show. I can’t think why it is so out of favour – other than it is extremely hard to do well. I studied enamelling at my local adult education college for a year and became totally hooked – after all, what’s not to like? Plenty of colour, infinite possibilities for pattern…

New Designers review 2011-Michelle Scicluna Me Me JewelleryNew Designers review 2011-Michelle Scicluna Me Me Jewellery
Michelle Scicluna of Sir John Cass London Metropolitan University had run out of cards – always a good sign! I was told to check out their website, which was emblazoned across the stand and yet is curiously uninhabited, so not sure why they would advertise it so widely. Fortunately Michelle herself is more savvy. She has a website and she’s also on Twitter. Go check her out. The Dhana Collection is made up of reinforced paper and metal, with shapes inspired by many years spent living in the ashrams of Thailand and practicing Buddhism. Really quite special.

New Designers review 2011-One Year On Li-Chu Wu
One Year On Li-Chu Wu of Birmingham City University drew me in with her multiple layer papercut jewellery. Particularly loved this nature inspired piece in sultry yellow. Follow Li-Chu Wu on Twitter.

Overall there was an awful lot of wonderful jewellery to look at but it does make me wonder, and worry, how on earth all these graduates will make a living: jewellery is an amazing addition to any girl’s life (and some boy’s…) but jewellery is not a necessity as clothing is. Expensive pieces are bought only seldomly, which is just as well because precious jewellery is incredibly carbon intensive to produce as well as desperately in need of an ethical practice overhaul. Fairtrade gold will only go so far… but I really do hope that this new generation of designers will fly the flag for ethical practice as well as good craft practice.

Categories ,80s, ,Birmingham City University, ,Bucks New University, ,CAD design, ,Central Saint Martins, ,Dublin, ,Duncan of Jordanstone, ,ecological, ,Emma Louise Simmonds, ,Enamelling, ,Fairtrade gold, ,Free Range, ,Future Makers Award, ,Goldsmith’s Craft and Design Council Award, ,Graduate Rising Star 2011, ,Hayley Lamb, ,India, ,Jessica Ruth Howarth, ,Jong Bin Kim, ,Laser Welding Technology, ,Li-Chu Wu, ,Lucy Seddon, ,Me Me Jewellery, ,Memphis School, ,Michelle Scicluna, ,Middlesex, ,Muireann Walshe, ,National College of Art and Design, ,Niti Khanna, ,One Year On, ,paper, ,Paper Memories, ,Sheffield Hallam, ,Sir John Cass. London Metropolitan University, ,Tara Broach, ,Tara Brooch, ,Thailand, ,The Dhana Collection, ,Truro College, ,UCA Rochester, ,William Huynh

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Amelia’s Magazine | Free Range Graduate Shows 2012: Middlesex University Jewellery Ba Hons Review

Middlesex Uni -Chaca Jacobsen
Chaca Jacobsen.

The jewellery design course at Middlesex University habitually turns out some wonderful artisans and this year was no exception, with collections inspired by themes of tradition, adornment, religion, memory, value and social identity. I visited their workshops at the Hendon campus a few months ago and was incredibly impressed by their new facilities.

Francesca Tring
Francesca Tring
Francesca Tring was inspired by Memento Mori to create these curious, dark wooden brooches… sprouting tufts of fur.

Franziska Lusser
Middlesex University jewellery graduate show 2012-Franziska Lusser
Middlesex University jewellery graduate show 2012-Franziska Lusser
I’m a sucker for big jewellery such as Franziska Lusser‘s designs, which made clever use of common materials (plastic combined with metal dust) to create precious looking pendants on industrial chains.

Helen Maria Faliveno
Helen Maria Faliveno
Helen Maria Faliveno
I also love delicate jewellery. Helen Maria Faliveno remembers childhood obsessions in her Polly Pocket inspired charms.

Mesh Doganay
Mesh Doganay displayed dipped neon rings which she creates quickly in one sitting, improvising the design process as she progresses.

Louise Payjack-Guillou
Louise Payjack-Guillou
Louise Payjack-Guillou fossilised sea urchins into lockets and brooches.

Lydia Miriam Jones
Lydia Miriam Jones
Lydia Miriam Jones
Lydia Miriam Jones worked at the Neema Crafts Centre in Tanzania, which totally altered her attitudes to creating material goods. Her stunning display was created using a ‘bottle to beads’ recycling process. She collects materials and then transforms them through low-tech production such as slip casting, embracing inherent imperfections from the process.

Middlesex University jewellery graduate show 2012-Tanya Garfield
Middlesex University jewellery graduate show 2012-Tanya Garfield
He loves me, he loves me not…

Middlesex University jewellery graduate show 2012-Tanya Garfield
Delicate necklaces by Tanya Garfield were one of my stand out favourites in the show. By combining common sayings and the intricacies of Morse Code she has produced beautiful and desirable necklaces – something which is often difficult to do with more conceptual work.

Christiana Christoforou
Christiana Christoforou
Christiana Christoforou began her final work by leaving clay at the entrance to stranger’s homes in London, with a message inviting them to imprint something of their identity into the material. From this she had created intriguing medallions which encompass the abstract and the recognisable (a Lego figurine, Donald Duck.)

Lydia Wood-Power
Lydia Wood-Power mixed past and present in her colourful formica collection. Alongside creating jewellery she also runs a ‘vintage’ 1950s style tea room in Streatham Hill, which she opened in her year out. She works in a studio behind it: what a wonderful idea!

Samantha Cobb
Samantha Cobb‘s tiny metal amulets reminded me of paper boats or paper hats.

Middlesex University jewellery graduate show 2012-Middlesex Uni -Chaca Jacobsen
Middlesex University jewellery graduate show 2012-Middlesex Uni -Chaca Jacobsen
Using an eclectic mix of high gloss acrylic and a touch of gold, Chaca Jacobsen had created decorative yet functional necklaces with an elegant finish. ‘A ninja necklace awakes the spy; a Samurai sword-handle necklace our inner power and a police baton reflects a desire for control.

There is no doubt that this was a showcase for incredible techniques and thought process in jewellery making – I’d also love to see more collaboration with fashion, melding these skills with catwalk trends and influences. You can read my review of the 2011 graduate show here.

Categories ,2012, ,Chaca Jacobsen, ,Christiana Christoforou, ,Francesca Tring, ,Franziska Lusser, ,Free Range, ,Helen Maria Faliveno, ,Hendon campus, ,jewellery, ,Louise Payjack-Guillou, ,Lydia Miriam Jones, ,Lydia Wood-Power, ,Memento Mori, ,Memory, ,Mesh Doganay, ,middlesex university, ,Morse Code, ,Neema Crafts Centre, ,Polly Pocket, ,recycled, ,religion, ,review, ,Samantha Cobb, ,Social Identity, ,Tanya Garfield, ,Tanzania, ,Vintage tea room

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Amelia’s Magazine | University of Central Lancashire Ba Hons Photography Graduate Show 2011 Review

UC Lancaster Photography degree show Free Range 2011-Christopher T. Finch
Photography by Christopher T. Finch.

UCLan, buy more about University of Central Lancashire presented a very clear collection of experimental work in their stand alone space as part of Free Range at the Truman Brewery.

UC Lancaster Photography degree show Free Range 2011-UC Lancaster Photography degree show Free Range 2011-Christopher T. Finch
Christopher T. Finch works with primitive home made cameras and digital technology. For his final show he presented a selection of pore framing facial close ups, various characters layered closely, almost on top of each other.

UC Lancashire Photography degree show Free Range 2011-Lizzie GodfreyUC Lancashire Photography degree show Free Range 2011-Lizzie GodfreyUC Lancashire Photography degree show Free Range 2011-Lizzie Godfrey
Lizzie Godfrey has obviously been influenced by the political climate. In a book titled The Fire This Time? she followed protestors through anti cuts marches earlier this year. Photographs were accompanied with lots of text to explain the evolution of her thought process too.

UC Lancashire Photography degree show Free Range 2011-Teresa Roberts UC Lancashire Photography degree show Free Range 2011-Teresa Roberts
Teresa Roberts produced a book too: The Maasai: Changing of Traditions mapped the ways that Western culture is influencing this nomadic people.

Richard Lewis Pryce looked through a blur onto the streets of London. Apologies for the lack of artwork but there was nowt in his online portfolio and my shot was rubbish. Shame I can’t show you because it was very clever stuff.

UC Lancashire Photography degree show Free Range 2011-Jennifer ColvinUC Lancashire Photography degree show Free Range 2011-Jennifer Colvin
Jennifer Colvin did some interesting things with resin and bits of collected ephemera.

UC Lancashire Photography degree show Free Range 2011-Ma in travel photography
The University of Central Lancashire is starting a new MA in Travel Photography this September – the course will engage in global politics, sustainable development and environmental issues, conservation and colonialism. Modules will be field based and the first will take place in Kenya. Maaaaan, if I didn’t have a magazine to run and a life to be responsible for then I would so run away and take this course.

Categories ,#UKuncut, ,2011, ,Christopher T. Finch, ,collage, ,Colonialism, ,conservation, ,digital, ,Ephemera, ,Free Range, ,global politics, ,Graduate Shows, ,Hand-made, ,Jennifer Colvin, ,Kenya, ,Lizzie Godfrey, ,ma, ,photography, ,Richard Lewis Pryce, ,Riots, ,sustainable development, ,Teresa Roberts, ,The Fire This Time?, ,The Maasai: Changing of Traditions, ,Travel Photography, ,Truman Brewery, ,UCLan, ,University of Central Lancashire

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Amelia’s Magazine | University of Westminster: Photography Ba Hons Graduate Show 2011 Review

University of Westminster photography graduate exhibition 2011 review-Zara Ilic
Detail of photograph by Zara Ilic.

University of Westminster had the lion’s share of the Free Range showspace last weekend, store taking up the entirety of the huge hangar like space, symptoms which has lately been suffering a lot of roof leaks. Within those walls was a plethora of different photographic styles. I picked up on just a few in the show.

Tomas Hein Artefact
Tomas Hein porcelain figure
Tomas Hein looked into contemporary archaeological finds – from the former inhabitants of 43 Gerrard Road, Islington. After eviction only the porcelain statues of this Chinese family remained alongside some black and white informal family photos. Huge prints emphasised the pathos of his finds. His accompanying zine was featured on It’s Nice That. Find Tomas Hein on twitter here.

University of Westminster photography graduate exhibition 2011 Louise Smith de Vasconcelos
University of Westminster photography graduate exhibition 2011 Louise Smith de Vasconcelos
Louise Smith de Vasconcelos looked into Awareness and Perception in a series of close up still lives, some of which were more discernibly objects that I knew and recognised than others.

Genevieve Rudd dementia
I was most taken by Genevieve Rudd‘s collaborative project with her grandfather James Pettigrew, named 64 Althea Green. Together they documented her grandmother’s decline into dementia, with slabs of paint overlaid on conventional photography in a semi crazed manner.

University of Westminster photography graduate exhibition 2011 Samantha Cawson
University of Westminster photography graduate exhibition 2011 Samantha Cawson
University of Westminster photography graduate exhibition 2011 Samantha Cawson
Samantha Cawson also chose to create an installation with the bastardised photographs of the Victorian and Edwardian era – faces sewn over with coloured cotton threads. Weirdly, I had the idea to do this with some of my old magazine tearsheets only yesterday, when I was considering how I could have contributed original art to the Art Car Boot Fair. Though maybe not over their faces…




Beth Vieira calls herself a ‘lens-based artist’ and is interested in cinematic and narrative photography. ‘Coming from an academic environment, my work tends to demonstrate a conceptual reflection onto psychoanalytical and sociological dramas‘. Her three video loop installation was called Scouting for Boys and featured staged tableaux that called to mind the kind of generic imagery that is familiar to us from films and television. At first glance these appeared to be static photos but then eyes, breath, wisps of emotion revealed them to be alive and moving people. Subtley clever.

Ed Hannan rowley_way
Ed Hannan tackled that favourite photographic subject, the weird beauty of council estates – mounds of curvaceous and angular weathered concrete rendered beautiful in the loving detail. It’s a shame there’s nowt more to be seen online yet.

Shanna Taylor Hoarding the Garage
Shanna Taylor Hoarding the Garage
Shanna Taylor Hoarding the Garage
University of Westminster photography graduate exhibition 2011 Shanna Taylor Hoarding the Garage
The Garage struck a resonant note with me – Shanna Taylor‘s documentation of her father’s incredible hoarding showed how it has threatened to engulf his family (he’s built an extra garage where everything is getting mouldy and moth eaten). Rather uncomfortably it reminds me of my own tendency to hang on to absolutely everything… just in case it’s needed somewhere down the line, and also because I hate to create any kind of waste that might end up in landfill. ‘Much of what he has accumulated is junk…. However for him each item has such a high degree of perceived value that he cannot bear to part with it.’ Yup, I know that feeling only too well.

University of Westminster photography graduate exhibition 2011 Jorge Anthony Stride
University of Westminster photography graduate exhibition 2011 Jorge Anthony Stride
Uncertain States by Jorge Anthony Stride featured a series of ethereal landscapes, quite similar in fact to Lydia Anna Stott’s work at Nottingham Trent. Even his written explanation was eerily similar too. I must say I am very drawn to this kind of photography – something about the dreamlike state of it is very appealing. There must be something zeitgeisty going on here.

Zara Ilic Plitvika Jezera
Zara Ilic Plitvika Jezera
Zara Ilic Plitvika Jezera
I loved Zara Ilic‘s Plitvika Jezera – a colour saturated documentation of the waterfall in a national park on the borders between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. The waters change colour constantly according to the mineral deposits and angle of the sun, something which she has captured extremely evocatively. And to my excitement I was able to tweet her immediately to say how much I liked her work because she included her twitter profile on her business card. Yay!

Aniela Michalec-Perriam Pur-spi-kas-i-tee
Aniela Michalec-Perriam Pur-spi-kas-i-tee
University of Westminster photography graduate exhibition 2011 Aniela Michalec-Perriam Pur-spi-kas-i-tee
Aniela Michalec-Perriam worked with children to complete her final project – Pur-spi-kas-i-tee tackled the plight of kids with communication difficulties, saddled with trying to make themselves understood in a society that negatively stereotypes them. The children were all given the opportunity to contribute to their portrait in any way they liked. The blurring of faces and simple brightness of the resulting photos was very evocative.

University of Westminster photography graduate exhibition 2011 Jason Pierce-Williams
University of Westminster photography graduate exhibition 2011 Jason Pierce-Williams
Lastly, Jason Pierce-Williams visited the studios of artists who are driven to make art despite the lack of commercial success. His candid portraits portrayed the stoicism of those artists who are determined to keep producing art regardless. ‘None of the artists portrayed are household names.’

All in all there was a very high quality of photography amongst Westminster students, but too many have rested on their laurels when it comes to promoting their work online – it was a massive struggle to find degree show images. Some students hadn’t even bothered to upload their images to the Free Range showcase pages, hence the reason that this blog features my relatively crappy photos of photos. Trawling the web in search of images I have also come to realise just how much help creatives need with learning Search Engine Optimisation – they really don’t make the most of it. I can’t stress how important it is to graduate with a strong online presence so that interested parties can track you down. Is it any surprise that Tomas Hein, with his great website, blog and twitter feed, has received such notable accolades already? If not now, then when?

Categories ,2011, ,43 Gerrard Road, ,64 Althea Green, ,Aniela Michalec-Perriam, ,Art Car Boot Fair, ,Awareness and Perception, ,Beth Vieira, ,Bosnia and Herzegovina, ,Council Estates, ,Croatia, ,Dementia, ,Ed Hannan, ,Eviction, ,Free Range, ,Genevieve Rudd, ,Graduate Shows, ,Hoarding, ,Islington, ,It’s Nice That, ,James Pettigrew, ,Jason Pierce-Williams, ,Jorge Anthony Stride, ,Lens-based artist, ,Louise Smith de Vasconcelos, ,Lydia Anne Stott, ,Nottingham Trent University, ,photography, ,Plitvika Jezera, ,Pur-spi-kas-i-tee, ,Samantha Cawson, ,Scouting for Boys, ,Search Engine Optimisation, ,Shanna Taylor, ,The Garage, ,Tomas Hein, ,Uncertain States, ,University of Westminster, ,video, ,Zara Ilic, ,Zeitgeist, ,zine

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Amelia’s Magazine | University of Westminster: Photography Ba Hons Graduate Show 2011 Review

University of Westminster photography graduate exhibition 2011 review-Zara Ilic
Detail of photograph by Zara Ilic.

University of Westminster had the lion’s share of the Free Range showspace last weekend, store taking up the entirety of the huge hangar like space, symptoms which has lately been suffering a lot of roof leaks. Within those walls was a plethora of different photographic styles. I picked up on just a few in the show.

Tomas Hein Artefact
Tomas Hein porcelain figure
Tomas Hein looked into contemporary archaeological finds – from the former inhabitants of 43 Gerrard Road, Islington. After eviction only the porcelain statues of this Chinese family remained alongside some black and white informal family photos. Huge prints emphasised the pathos of his finds. His accompanying zine was featured on It’s Nice That. Find Tomas Hein on twitter here.

University of Westminster photography graduate exhibition 2011 Louise Smith de Vasconcelos
University of Westminster photography graduate exhibition 2011 Louise Smith de Vasconcelos
Louise Smith de Vasconcelos looked into Awareness and Perception in a series of close up still lives, some of which were more discernibly objects that I knew and recognised than others.

Genevieve Rudd dementia
I was most taken by Genevieve Rudd‘s collaborative project with her grandfather James Pettigrew, named 64 Althea Green. Together they documented her grandmother’s decline into dementia, with slabs of paint overlaid on conventional photography in a semi crazed manner.

University of Westminster photography graduate exhibition 2011 Samantha Cawson
University of Westminster photography graduate exhibition 2011 Samantha Cawson
University of Westminster photography graduate exhibition 2011 Samantha Cawson
Samantha Cawson also chose to create an installation with the bastardised photographs of the Victorian and Edwardian era – faces sewn over with coloured cotton threads. Weirdly, I had the idea to do this with some of my old magazine tearsheets only yesterday, when I was considering how I could have contributed original art to the Art Car Boot Fair. Though maybe not over their faces…




Beth Vieira calls herself a ‘lens-based artist’ and is interested in cinematic and narrative photography. ‘Coming from an academic environment, my work tends to demonstrate a conceptual reflection onto psychoanalytical and sociological dramas‘. Her three video loop installation was called Scouting for Boys and featured staged tableaux that called to mind the kind of generic imagery that is familiar to us from films and television. At first glance these appeared to be static photos but then eyes, breath, wisps of emotion revealed them to be alive and moving people. Subtley clever.

Ed Hannan rowley_way
Ed Hannan tackled that favourite photographic subject, the weird beauty of council estates – mounds of curvaceous and angular weathered concrete rendered beautiful in the loving detail. It’s a shame there’s nowt more to be seen online yet.

Shanna Taylor Hoarding the Garage
Shanna Taylor Hoarding the Garage
Shanna Taylor Hoarding the Garage
University of Westminster photography graduate exhibition 2011 Shanna Taylor Hoarding the Garage
The Garage struck a resonant note with me – Shanna Taylor‘s documentation of her father’s incredible hoarding showed how it has threatened to engulf his family (he’s built an extra garage where everything is getting mouldy and moth eaten). Rather uncomfortably it reminds me of my own tendency to hang on to absolutely everything… just in case it’s needed somewhere down the line, and also because I hate to create any kind of waste that might end up in landfill. ‘Much of what he has accumulated is junk…. However for him each item has such a high degree of perceived value that he cannot bear to part with it.’ Yup, I know that feeling only too well.

University of Westminster photography graduate exhibition 2011 Jorge Anthony Stride
University of Westminster photography graduate exhibition 2011 Jorge Anthony Stride
Uncertain States by Jorge Anthony Stride featured a series of ethereal landscapes, quite similar in fact to Lydia Anna Stott’s work at Nottingham Trent. Even his written explanation was eerily similar too. I must say I am very drawn to this kind of photography – something about the dreamlike state of it is very appealing. There must be something zeitgeisty going on here.

Zara Ilic Plitvika Jezera
Zara Ilic Plitvika Jezera
Zara Ilic Plitvika Jezera
I loved Zara Ilic‘s Plitvika Jezera – a colour saturated documentation of the waterfall in a national park on the borders between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. The waters change colour constantly according to the mineral deposits and angle of the sun, something which she has captured extremely evocatively. And to my excitement I was able to tweet her immediately to say how much I liked her work because she included her twitter profile on her business card. Yay!

Aniela Michalec-Perriam Pur-spi-kas-i-tee
Aniela Michalec-Perriam Pur-spi-kas-i-tee
University of Westminster photography graduate exhibition 2011 Aniela Michalec-Perriam Pur-spi-kas-i-tee
Aniela Michalec-Perriam worked with children to complete her final project – Pur-spi-kas-i-tee tackled the plight of kids with communication difficulties, saddled with trying to make themselves understood in a society that negatively stereotypes them. The children were all given the opportunity to contribute to their portrait in any way they liked. The blurring of faces and simple brightness of the resulting photos was very evocative.

University of Westminster photography graduate exhibition 2011 Jason Pierce-Williams
University of Westminster photography graduate exhibition 2011 Jason Pierce-Williams
Lastly, Jason Pierce-Williams visited the studios of artists who are driven to make art despite the lack of commercial success. His candid portraits portrayed the stoicism of those artists who are determined to keep producing art regardless. ‘None of the artists portrayed are household names.’

All in all there was a very high quality of photography amongst Westminster students, but too many have rested on their laurels when it comes to promoting their work online – it was a massive struggle to find degree show images. Some students hadn’t even bothered to upload their images to the Free Range showcase pages, hence the reason that this blog features my relatively crappy photos of photos. Trawling the web in search of images I have also come to realise just how much help creatives need with learning Search Engine Optimisation – they really don’t make the most of it. I can’t stress how important it is to graduate with a strong online presence so that interested parties can track you down. Is it any surprise that Tomas Hein, with his great website, blog and twitter feed, has received such notable accolades already? If not now, then when?

Categories ,2011, ,43 Gerrard Road, ,64 Althea Green, ,Aniela Michalec-Perriam, ,Art Car Boot Fair, ,Awareness and Perception, ,Beth Vieira, ,Bosnia and Herzegovina, ,Council Estates, ,Croatia, ,Dementia, ,Ed Hannan, ,Eviction, ,Free Range, ,Genevieve Rudd, ,Graduate Shows, ,Hoarding, ,Islington, ,It’s Nice That, ,James Pettigrew, ,Jason Pierce-Williams, ,Jorge Anthony Stride, ,Lens-based artist, ,Louise Smith de Vasconcelos, ,Lydia Anne Stott, ,Nottingham Trent University, ,photography, ,Plitvika Jezera, ,Pur-spi-kas-i-tee, ,Samantha Cawson, ,Scouting for Boys, ,Search Engine Optimisation, ,Shanna Taylor, ,The Garage, ,Tomas Hein, ,Uncertain States, ,University of Westminster, ,video, ,Zara Ilic, ,Zeitgeist, ,zine

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Amelia’s Magazine | Wiltshire College: Photography Graduate Show 2011 Review

Wiltshire college photography graduate exhibition 2011 Danielle McDonald
Installation by Danielle McDonald.

The most interesting part of the Wiltshire College Photography degree show was the clever installations that some of the students had put together.

Wiltshire college photography graduate exhibition 2011 Laura Haskell
Laura Haskell had imagined the interior of an Asian household.

Wiltshire college photography graduate exhibition 2011 Kiri Nicholetts
Wiltshire college photography graduate exhibition 2011 Kiri Nicholetts
Kiri Nicholetts had gone completely to town with a whole interior featuring photographs on easels and photos on the wall which emulated famous shots of famous women using fairly ordinary subjects. It’s been done before and it will be done again, approved but the detail of the whole installation was really quite wonderful.

Wiltshire college photography graduate exhibition 2011 Sharon Smith
Sharon Smith Wiltshire college
Sharon Smith only displayed a couple of large portraits on her wall making her Sharon Smith St. a bold and arresting affair. Good photography too.

Wiltshire college photography graduate exhibition 2011 Danielle McDonald
Danielle McDonald showed her fashion photos on the walls of a lemon yellow 50s style dressing room come entrance hallway.

Wiltshire college photography graduate exhibition 2011 Laura Holmes
Laura Holmes had pinned records to the wall above a table atop of which sat an old fashioned portable record player.

Wiltshire college photography graduate exhibition 2011 Liz Daziel
Liz Daziel had pole position at the entrance to showcase her beautiful fashion portraits, faces posed through layers of gauzy fabric.

Categories ,Danielle McDonald, ,Free Range, ,Graduate Shows, ,installation, ,Kiri Nicholetts, ,Laura Haskell, ,Laura Holmes, ,Liz Daziel, ,photography, ,Sharon Smith, ,Wiltshire College

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Amelia’s Magazine | UCA: Design, Branding and Graphic Media Treat Yourself Graduate Show 2011 Review

UCA Design Branding graduate exhibition 2011 review-Treat Yourself
I was very impressed by the UCA branding #treatyourself at the Free Range shows. Black and white stripy bags that called to mind the traditional candy striped ones for sweeties lined the walls on the way to the second floor exhibition space at Free Range. And inside visitors were enticed to take a bag in which to pop their collected business cards.

UCA Design Branding graduate exhibition 2011 review-Treat YourselfUCA Design Branding graduate exhibition 2011 review-Treat Yourself

A great idea when multiple trips to shows can result in a bag full of random bits of paper and a very confused mind. I knew about Treat Yourself because I saw it bandied about on twitter a couple of days ago, thumb so it’s a shame they didn’t keep the social media promotion up a bit more over the weekend.

UCA Design Branding graduate exhibition 2011 review-Alison Deborah Leah Gardiner
From UCA I was drawn to the work of Sean McCarthy, who decided to tackle the Alzheimer’s with these arresting posters for A Scar on Memory Lane.

UCA Design Branding graduate exhibition 2011 review-Treat Yourself Kirsty MartinUCA Design Branding graduate exhibition 2011 review-Treat Yourself Kirsty Martin
Star Bright is a children’s book from Kirsty Martin that deals with the topics of death and grief. It follows the story of two friends, Rascal the Raccoon and Ruff the Fox and was inspired by the loss of Kirsty’s own mother. She hopes that it will help children who might find themselves in a similar situation.

Categories ,A Scar on Memory Lane, ,Alzheimer’s, ,Branding, ,Children’s Book, ,design, ,Free Range, ,Graphic Media, ,Grief, ,illustration, ,Kirsty Martin, ,Rascal the Raccoon, ,Ruff the Fox, ,Sean McCarthy, ,Star Bright, ,Treat Yourself, ,UCA

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Amelia’s Magazine | UCA: Design, Branding and Graphic Media Treat Yourself Graduate Show 2011 Review

UCA Design Branding graduate exhibition 2011 review-Treat Yourself
I was very impressed by the UCA branding #treatyourself at the Free Range shows. Black and white stripy bags that called to mind the traditional candy striped ones for sweeties lined the walls on the way to the second floor exhibition space at Free Range. And inside visitors were enticed to take a bag in which to pop their collected business cards.

UCA Design Branding graduate exhibition 2011 review-Treat YourselfUCA Design Branding graduate exhibition 2011 review-Treat Yourself

A great idea when multiple trips to shows can result in a bag full of random bits of paper and a very confused mind. I knew about Treat Yourself because I saw it bandied about on twitter a couple of days ago, thumb so it’s a shame they didn’t keep the social media promotion up a bit more over the weekend.

UCA Design Branding graduate exhibition 2011 review-Alison Deborah Leah Gardiner
From UCA I was drawn to the work of Sean McCarthy, who decided to tackle the Alzheimer’s with these arresting posters for A Scar on Memory Lane.

UCA Design Branding graduate exhibition 2011 review-Treat Yourself Kirsty MartinUCA Design Branding graduate exhibition 2011 review-Treat Yourself Kirsty Martin
Star Bright is a children’s book from Kirsty Martin that deals with the topics of death and grief. It follows the story of two friends, Rascal the Raccoon and Ruff the Fox and was inspired by the loss of Kirsty’s own mother. She hopes that it will help children who might find themselves in a similar situation.

Categories ,A Scar on Memory Lane, ,Alzheimer’s, ,Branding, ,Children’s Book, ,design, ,Free Range, ,Graphic Media, ,Grief, ,illustration, ,Kirsty Martin, ,Rascal the Raccoon, ,Ruff the Fox, ,Sean McCarthy, ,Star Bright, ,Treat Yourself, ,UCA

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Amelia’s Magazine | University Campus Suffolk: Photography Graduate Show 2011 Review

University Campus Suffolk photography graduate exhibition 2011 R.G.Brown
Detail of The Anatomy Lesson after Rembrandt by R.G.Brown.

From University Campus Suffolk there was an intriguing selection of experimental photography in their Allsorts exhibition at Free Range.

University Campus Suffolk photography graduate exhibition 2011 James RoffeUniversity Campus Suffolk photography graduate exhibition 2011 James RoffeUniversity Campus Suffolk photography graduate exhibition 2011 James Roffe
James Roffe‘s project looked at The Person and Their Space: building a bigger picture of his subject through the careful use of photoshop to overlay portraits on their home environment. These were surprisingly powerful and up close the large scale inkjet prints took on a luminous quality thanks to the studied texture of skin.

University Campus Suffolk photography graduate exhibition 2011 R.G.Brown
The Wounded Cavalier after Shakespeare Burton.

University Campus Suffolk photography graduate exhibition 2011 R.G.Brown
The execution of Lady Jane Grey after Delaroche.

I was utterly captivated by R.G. Brown‘s re-imagining of famous paintings with traditional characters replaced by anarchists, cialis 40mg riot police and business men. He is clearly an artist immersed in today’s charged political environment as his documentary photographs of protest marches testify – and he has translated this interest into something really quite unique. Very powerful images.

University Campus Suffolk photography graduate exhibition 2011 Thomas FordUniversity Campus Suffolk photography graduate exhibition 2011 Thomas Ford
For an-a-tom-i-cal a-nal-y-sis Thomas Ford had squelched the slabbily pink bodies of three males into mega scaled contortions, website like this as if pressed against circus mirrored glass. When I was walking around Free Range I twittered an up close snap of the most in your face pair of male genitals and got censored. Why? Why should it be deemed so disturbing to look at these most mundane of body parts? It’s hard to find a new way of looking at the nude but these images were impressive in their frank rawness.

Categories ,2011, ,Allsorts, ,an-a-tom-i-cal a-nal-y-sis, ,anarchist, ,Delaroche, ,Free Range, ,Graduate Shows, ,James Roffe, ,nude, ,photography, ,portrait, ,protest, ,R.G. Brown, ,rembrandt, ,Shakespeare Burton, ,The Person and Their Space, ,Thomas Ford, ,University Campus Suffolk

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