NOW AND THEN TALK: AN EVENING WITH | MELANIE KING & KATE RAINE
23 FEB 2024 | 7PM | VICTORIA HALL|
Now & Then: An evening with artist Melanie King and Kate Raine Director of Glossop Heritage Trust
Join Dark Peak Photo for an informal and enlightening evening at Victoria Hall with artist
Melanie King and Director of Glossop Heritage Trust Kate Raine, where guests can hear
first-hand about the works they are exhibiting.
This relaxed private event will be a chance to hear about the ‘Now’ from Melanie King on her
work ‘Aquaintance’ and the ‘Then’ with Kate Raine who will bring to life images from the
Glossop High Street from the Glossop Heritage Trust Archive.
Melanie will be speaking about the inspiration and process behind her Acquaintance project.
This work explores the creative possibilities of botanical cyanotype toning, and the
sustainability of her photographic processes which she is currently researching in order to
minimise the environmental impact of her artistic practice. The project is centred on the Peak
District, an area close to where Melanie grew up.
Kate Raine is a Historian, Archivist, and a Director of Glossop Heritage Trust with a great
personal passion for history. She spends her time researching hidden tales waiting to be told
and sharing the stories she discovers in talks and articles.
Her talk will delve into the story of the types of photographs that have survived of Glossop
High Street and how they came to be part of the Glossop Heritage Trust collection. There
will be a small display of photographs from the collection.
Attendees will have the chance to ask questions to both speakers and enjoy a relaxed
evening of creative insights and thought-provoking conversation in the company of fellow
photography fans.
Note: Hot and cold non-alcoholic refreshments will be available to purchase at the venue.
About Melanie King
Melanie King is an artist and curator, originally from Manchester, UK. Melanie is now based in Ramsgate. She is co-Director of super/collider, Lumen Studios and founder of the London Alternative Photography Collective. Melanie is Lecturer In Photography at Canterbury Christ Church University, and a practice-based PhD Candidate at the Royal College of Art. She is represented by the Land Art Agency.
Interested in the relationship between the environment, photography and materiality, Melanie intends to highlight the intimate connection between photographic materials and the natural world. She is currently researching a number of sustainable photographic processes, to minimise the environmental impact of her artistic practice.
Melanie's recent project Acquaintance explores the creative possibilities of botanical cyanotype toning and sustainable photographic processes. This exploration considers how location-specific sustainable photographic processes can produce bodies of work that are materially connected to the landscape. This project is centred on the Peak District, an area close to where Melanie grew up. Melanie's 2021-2022 project "Precious Metals" considers the materiality of silver and palladium, from the production of silver and palladium within the cosmos, extraction from Earth and its uses within our society. This project focuses on their use in photography, suggesting methods of using the material that is less harmful to the ecology of the Earth.
Her PhD practice-based research "Ancient Light: Rematerialising The Astronomical Image" considered how light travels thousands, if not millions of years, before reaching photosensitive film or a digital sensor. Ancient Light comprises analogue photographs of star-scapes, as well as a series of images created using telescopes and observatories around the world.
Acquaintance explores the creative possibilities of botanical cyanotype toning and sustainable photographic processes. This exploration considers how location-specific sustainable photographic processes can produce bodies of work that are materially connected to the landscape. This project is centred on the Peak District and surrounding areas, close to where I grew up. This enquiry allows me to become reacquainted with the landscape, through the lens of photography and through the material engagement with plants identified in the environments I visit.
23 FEB 2024 | 7PM | VICTORIA HALL | £8.50 plus booking fee