PROXIMITY-
DWELLING
This year Liverpool School of Architecture collaborated with Open Eye Gallery to invite students to submit their photos to a competition in response to Stephen McCoy’s exhibition Proximity at Open Eye Gallery’
“it’s been fantastic to see such personal responses to our exhibition – each student has managed to tune in to a series by Stephen McCoy and react in a way that feels new and individual. With only a short period of time to make a new series, we’ve been blown away by the photographic ability of Afua Ampomah-Amoako, Fatima Elaswad, Holly Carter, Jess Marsden-Rainsford and Sam Read. We’re looking forward to seeing more from these artists and how photography continues to be used in their practice.’
Declan Connolly – Talent and Design Coordinator
Open Eye Gallery is at Mann Island next to RIBA North, and is free and open to everybody
Afua Ampomah-Amoako
MSc. Climate Resilience and Environmental Sustainability in Architecture
“… a RHAPSODY of my LOCALITY
My locality, where the brown soil lay, where stones sing and dust rises with the sun’s warm embrace.
A place where houses beam with life, a quiet rhythm in my locality, where roads are rough and long.
By the rich brown soil stand the low grass that sway by the soft touch of the wind.
That locality, a place where earth and sky
meet, a haven for a child.
WA, my beloved! A region of peace that holds secrets of great and mighty men ! A simple and true locality. In the stillness of the day, when the sun beats down, we find rest beneath the shade of the tall trees that stretch their arms to the sky.”
Fatimah Elaswad
BA Architecture. First Year
My photos look at my brother’s interactions with a mix of local landmarks and mundane locations, exploring how seemingly trivial spaces hold just as much, if not more, significance to those who have grown up within them.
Holly Carter
BA Architecture, Third year
Photos showing gender roles in the home over Christmas. Posing the question, who is able to relax and who does work continue for? These black and white, close crop photos are inspired by McCoy’s work and aim to hint at a gender without necessarily showing a persons gender.
Jess Marsden-Rainsford
Architectural Engineering. First Year
These are photos that I took on my old digital camera, they are inspired by ‘Demolition Sites’ and ‘Housing Estates’ by Stephen McCoy. I wanted to try capture the stillness the night brings to a demolition site. I love drawing broken buildings and ruins because there’s so much to look at, and I thought that it would be interesting to wait for different tones in the sky to see how this would effect the emotion each part of the building portrays.
Sam Read
MArch. Fourth Year
I took inspiration from Stephen McCoy’s close and personal images of his family and friends in the gallery. I liked how these images showed energy and connection without necessarily framing the whole scene or showing the faces of those involved. With this in mind, I tried to record activities with my family and friends that showed everyday activity anonymously and would invite the audience into the scene.
