Danielle Boskamp MA  BA  Email Danielle

Danielle Boskamp’s photographs investigate the psychology and purposes of collecting.The process of collecting has been extensively theorised by such figures as Carol Duncan: The desire to give shape to, and create an order for amicrocosmic world; the exhilaration of the chase; and the satisfactions of achieving a point of resolution are, it, seems, inherent to the drive to collect. 

Danielle’s working process is not, however, to document others’ collections (like LouiseLawler), or to create new categories by which ‘the order of things’ might be rethought (like Mark Dion). Her aim is not to document the material mechanisms by which individuals build an environment for themselves through the serial accumulation of material objects, which are, in any case, already well known. Rather, her procedure is to work in a quasi-autobiographical vein: each image is created by building a set materials from flea markets and boot sales over a number of years. Several of her photographs contain objects which resemble childhood memorabilia, though her purpose is to evoke her own past by investing ordinary objects, through their multiplication, with a particular psychological charge. Accordingly, each image is a tableau, a semi-fictional scenario which is intended to “initiate a process of remembering, and thus create a cathartic and ultimately healing experience”. The objects in each image are therefore triggers, not only for the photographer’s own process of recollection, but for positively shaping “stories… be they real or imagined” which we as viewers can tap into. We might best view each of Danielle’s works as representing an archive created only for the purposes of the camera and driven by its needs, but which is also rooted in her own autobiography and impulses. In her own words, the resulting images “hold the key to [the retrieval of my own] actual memories, and become their receptacle; and to some extent become their point of resolution.”

Peter Reid ARPS MA BSc  Email Peter

Peter is now semi-retired and lives in the North East of England, from where he specialises in landscape photography. He combines his love of photography with a lifelong interest in travel and European culture. In 2007 he spent nine weeks, in three visits, in France, visiting Vannes for the Festival International de la Photo de Mer in the Spring, Aubusson for the Tapestry festival in the Summer and Paris for the student riots in the Autumn, shooting more than two thousand images. The focus of his research lies in the forgotten landscape and the lives of the people who built our early transportation systems. His practice utilises medium format and 35mm digital photography, digital video, historical text and images in an effort to provide an insight into a bygone age. His earlier work on disused railways looked at the remaining trace elements of the branch lines that were discarded during the 1960’s. Peter’s latest work examined the transport system that was killed off with the advent of the railway system and in so doing highlighted a variety of sophisticated skills that were largely taken for granted in the day to day life ofthe typical navigator. He, of that itinerant army of rumbustious workers to whom a great debt is owed. In December 2007 Peter was awarded the degree MA Photography at the University of Sunderland. His latest work, “Stairway to Heaven”, was exhibited at the NGCA,Sunderland, from 7th December 2007 to 26th January 2008. More of his work may be seen

at http://www.rps.org/portfolio/1055-Peter-Reid%20ARPS