Stuart Whipps’ most recent body of work, ‘New Wooabbeleri’ was nominated for this year’s Deutsche Börse Photography prize. The work was the result of a residency at the Focal Point gallery in Southend-on-Sea and was a response to the Thames gateway regeneration zone. The exhibition and resulting publication questioned the process of regeneration and the use and veracity of its related documentation through a combination of re-worked planners’ drawings, original photographs and appropriated pages of Thames Gateway publications.
Stuart’s recent work examines the issues associated with shared bodies of knowledge, such as those found in archives. Drawing together archival material and new works, Stuart’s projects often provide a new narrative for events and sites and question the nature of documentation.
In 2006 he was the recipient of the Observer Hodge award for his photographic documentation of the redundant British Leyland/MG factory at Longbridge, Birmingham. This body of work developed into ‘Ming Jue’ a solo exhibition at The New Art Gallery Walsall in 2008 and an 84-page publication. Stuart was selected by the International Photography Research Network to undertake a commission in Johannesburg in 2007, hosted by The Bag Factory, where he developed a project which explored the Central Business District, once a whites-only area and economic hub of the city, now redundant, made up of skyscrapers and offices largely as they were when businesses and workers left them.
In 2009 he was selected for the seminal group exhibition, East International, selected by Art and Language. The exhibited work revisited his photographic study of the British Leyland factory and presented archival material alongside a tongue in cheek textual analysis of Margaret Thatcher’s speeches, interviews and statements from 1979. He was the joint recipient of the East International Award.
Stuart will talk about his photographic practice and his approach to working with archival materials, exhibiting, collaboration and his experience of commissions.
The talk is free however please book your place by emailing: carol.mckay@sunderland.ac.uk