Elements of Curiosity

Eilish Culley
Blackburne House, Blackburne Place
1st-30th June 2010

Reviewed by Charles McIntyre

Hosted at the obscure and unlikely venue of Blackburne house, Eilish Culley’s ‘Elements of Curiosity’ photography exhibition is something of a hidden gem this month.

The modest collection of photographs occupies a single hall, which offers a quiet place for reflection and contemplation; this is certainly required when considering meaning in Culley’s display.

A loose and obvious connection running through the exhibition is decay and decrepitude. The opening photograph – the beautiful butterfly image displayed here – captures the fragility and beauty associated with natural disintegration perfectly. The mood is neither celebratory nor dismaying, and this is perhaps what Culley aims to convey through her images of degradation.

The exhibit also displays multiple photographs united by theme, such as a mini collection of beach images. The beach dominates the exhibition, perhaps due to the sea’s turbulent and erosive nature, and highlights most boldly the contrast between natural and man made forms. Particularly effective, is a photograph that depicts a moored boat at a rocky cove. The image is askew, giving the impression that the boat is being dragged out to sea with the tide. Culley focuses on beach debris also, with a close up of a three holed brick, now smoothed out of recognition and becoming yet another anonymous pebble like form which make up the beach surface.

The theme is not always carried through consistently however. A three piece combination, contrasting a jumbled heap of faded chillies and a pile of liquorice allsorts, and centred by a vivid portrait of a flower head, is particularly lost in the exhibition. The meaning is perhaps related to the vibrancy of colour and the association with instinctual animal attraction, but this is not entirely successful.

Other images in the exhibition relate loosely to the theme of aging (an ancient yet pristine Harley Davidson is featured) but are not as concise in their depiction or context.

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