Research output per year
Research output per year
Research Student
Research activity per year
I am an artist and writer with a research-based practice based in North Herefordshire, UK. I primarily use photographic processes and techologies to examine human relationships, particularly in relation to identity and the natural world, using a variety of traditional, modern and experimental photographic techniques (often within the same projects) to explore both the limits and flexibility of the medium. A principle focus of mine is the practice of embedding the subject of my creative and research interests within the material of its represenation.
I am also interested in photography's relationship to other media as a method to deepen and expand audience engagement with complex themes and subjects. Some examples of this are the inclusion of sound, sculpture and living plants within the exhibition space to create an immersive environment.
My part-time, practice-based PhD project draws on these themes through the oak tree as a case study. Inspired by research that considers the intelligence and agency of plants and the comparison between photography and plants' dual reliance on light, my thesis comprises of a series of experimental photographic methods that seek to collaborate, or make-with, a collection of oak trees and their organic material to invite them into, and become part of, the process of their representation.
Broadly speaking my research interests cover photographic theory, history and practice; plant-intelligence; critical plant studies; queer ecology and queer theory.
Selected Exhibitions & Publications:
2024 'Photographic Phytography: Towards a Photographic Re-centering of the Oak Tree in Method, Theory and Practice, Issue 1, Plant Perspectives (accepted/in press)
2024 'Qu(e)ercus robur: Orlando and the Oak Tree', Issue 63, Queering Nature, Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture
2023 Roots: A Journey of Creative Discovery with England's Heritage Oak Trees, solo show, The Artery Studies, Arch 28 Gallery, Worcester
2023 'Queer Constellations: Reflections on Creative and Curatorial Practice at the Museum of English Rural Life', co-authored paper with Joe Jukes, published in Networking Knowledge: MeCCSA Journal for Postgraduate Research
2022 Photosymbiosis, solo show, ONCA Gallery, Brighton
2021 Queer Constellations, a group exhibition exploring queer approaches, ways of seeing or experiencing rurality, to coincide with the play ‘The Stars Are Brighter Here’ dir. Timothy Allsop (as part of ‘Queer Rural Connections’), featuring work from PhD project Embarkment, Museum of English Rural Life, Reading
2020 North / South, a group exhibition with Bethan Clarke and 'The Landing Collective', a collaborative audiovisual exhibition as part of the Brighton Photo Fringe 2020, featuring assorted work exploring the interaction between human culture and the natural world, Phoenix Gallery, Brighton
2020 Body / Nobody, a group exhibition and zine co-curated by New Grounds & Beth Troakes, as part of the Artists Open House Festival, featuring work-in-progress from PhD project 'The Living Tissue of Time' and 'Glitch[ed]' (collaboration with Bethan Clarke), Gallery Lock In, Brighton
2019 Homeland, a group exhibition and zine curated by Revolv Collective, featuring work from project 'Common Ground', Take Courage, London
2019 Faking it, a group exhibition featuring work from 'The Dawn and the Downs' and 'Glitch[ed]' (collaboration with Bethan Clarke), to take place alongside 'Faking it' academic conference, University of Sussex, Brighton
2019 Fake | Make, a group exhibition curated by New Grounds, in partnership with the Artists Open House Festival, featuring work from 'The Dawn and the Downs' and 'Glitch[ed]' (collaboration with Bethan Clarke), The Old Market, Brighton
2019 Aesthetic Initialisms, a group exhibition curated by Charlotte Graham featuring work-in-progress from 'Glitch[ed]', collaboration with Bethan Clarke, ONCA Gallery & the University of Sussex, Brighton
Master, Art History and Museum Curating with Photography, University of Sussex
1 Sept 2014 → 1 Sept 2015
Award Date: 1 Sept 2015
Bachelor, Photography & Video, De Montfort University
21 Sept 2010 → 26 Jul 2013
Award Date: 26 Jul 2013
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research output: Non-textual output › Exhibition
Research output: Non-textual output › Exhibition
Research output: Other contribution › peer-review
Pollen, A. (Invited presenter) & Roe, E. (Invited presenter)
Activity: External talk or presentation › Invited talk