Make Your Mark

14 to 31 January 2010

Make Your Mark brings together the striking work of three photographers – each series explores how the placing of a mark in an environment recreates the space. Marks are documented at three very different scales: in cupboards, in rooms and across cities.

Naomi Stannard's series 'The House I Once Called Home' documents her childhood home and the ways in which personal belongings transform a built space into a home. By photographing each meticulously labelled cupboard, the artist creates her own archive and, in effect, a portrait of her family through their own 'marking'.

Anna Hindocha's work investigates the personal and political use of urban space in London. The artist photographs modifications made to rooms by their inhabitants, from eccentric workshops to murals in squatted social centres. Her series 'The People's City' examines manipulated spaces that appear static but which – through their physical modifications – speak of history and activity.

Architectural photographer Ioana Marinescu's documentation of gas pipes in Romania reveals how the insertion of a line completely changes the perception of a space. As the yellow line of pipes traverses the city, the pipes can be seen as inadvertent municipal branding.

Curator Louise Forrester comments: "I'm delighted to exhibit these three intriguing projects which are each so visually distinct but all speak of the marks we make on our environments. I hope that these images will encourage visitors to become aware of their own mark-making, and to think about reading the marks that surround us all."

Whether subtle manipulation or willful transformation, Make Your Mark imaginatively considers the many ways in which our personal histories are written in the spaces that surround us. This unique exhibition is a timely reminder of our relationships to our environments, and should not be missed.
Accompanying workshop on 31 January 2010 with the exhibiting photographers Annd Hindocha and Naomi Stannard. To book, email louise[at]viewfinder.org.uk: last place remaining!

This exhibition follows the 2008 exhibition 'Marking/Erasing' at the Viewfinder, in which mark-making was employed as part of the image-making process.

Make Your Mark is part sponsored by Ambigraph and also supported by Institutul Cultural Roman: 

Exhibition catalogue

Visit the shop page to preview the exhibition catalogue, now available only as a digital publication (free).