Month: April 2017

Hull City Of Culture 2017

MY CITY OF CULTURE – MY HULL – WEEK 16

by anetesoodaLeave a Comment on MY CITY OF CULTURE – MY HULL – WEEK 16

I used to think that photographers who take part in challenges – daily, weekly, monthly clearly have a lot of spare time or they are just amateurs not willing to get a proper job. WRONG WRONG!
If you have a meaningful challenge that makes your life more awesome, if you gain something from the challenge, you are a winner.
And I am a winner. This year is super photo-busy, busier than it was each year at uni, I have taken a lot of photographs in sixteen weeks – amazing ones, bad ones, useless ones and a few life changing.

That is my wisdom for this week people

 

Now, week 16 of Hull City Of Culture 2017 has been bright and colourful, and interestingly – I went through some powerful feeling – drowning [I’ll explain].

Highlights/WEEK 16:

 

In previous weeks I have already attempted Slinkachu [ MY CITY OF CULTURE – MY HULL – WEEK 11 ]

I made two sets – one of them was with tiny human figures and Hull City Of Culture 2017 branding and other one was with two silly penguins. The first set was not very successful, so I have to try another location/landmark. I was really hoping that The Deep and penguins will work, as they are slightly bigger and were made as a joke[ish].

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The idea was to celebrate Hull City Of Culture 2017 through something that Hull know’s but isn’t as obvious. The Deep is more than obvious, but the penguins are fairly new edition to Hull. And I mean….if I were to be an intelligent penguin aware of culture in 2017, I would probably escape too.
It was very funny, typical me – I was not prepared so my set was about to be swept into River Humber. As I was struggling, a nosy stranger [took pictures of me taking pictures of the penguins] offered to help.
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The result is pleasing.
I am shifting off slightly from the meaning behind Slinkachu, or just having some perspective problems. But I am still happy. happy me, happy penguins and maybe this will inspire other people in  a strange way.

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The Raft of Medusa  – CLEAN, CRISP AND CLEVER

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The quality standards of exhibitions in Hull have grown and like most of the people, I have high expectations. And The Raft of Medusa was a pleasure to engage with and look at. The artists have maintained a lot of detail and even the smells….beautiful. And really suits the nature of the Humber Street Gallery.

 

Somewhere Becoming Sea – goose pump[ing] experience

 

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Interesting interpretation of the bond between human and the sea, especially Hull’s longstanding prominence as a gateway to the North Sea and beyond. Again – beautifully represented. One of the installations really gave me goose pumps. I was looking at something that felt like men on ships in the sea going through something terrible..I am not sure. The big screen, darkness and the sound dragged me into the feeling that I am there and I am just about to drawn. Scary and fascinating at the same time. I had to have 3 minutes of deep breaths and conversation with one of the volunteers, to feel like I am okay.

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Another installation looked at the ever-changing boundaries between land and sea. We all hear about this, but not many of us have the chance to see the real “change”. The land is shrinking and the powerful sea is biting of bits of, what we think is ours. In reality we are all guests on planet earth and the real boss is the Mother Nature. The video was super realistic, it dragged me into the devastating feeling that the land is disappearing in front of me.
The photograph and description does not give the justice to the installations, so I really recommend to see this yourself.

Here is a link to read more about the artists, influences:
OUT TO SEA – EXPLORING HULL’S FASCINATION WITH WATER

 

Re-Made in Hull at the ScrapStore.

First of all, this was so exciting that I even considered to have a separate blog post. But heey – time is money and I haven’t got both at the moment.

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Re-Made in Hull is a series of educational craft workshops. Set in a pretend factory environment, it is designed to inspire families to make a difference to their community through increased environmental awareness.

yesyesyes. As I arrived early I went through the fantastic shop. I was like a kid in the candy shop. Really recommend this place if you are feeling a bit dull need cheering up. The stuff that they have will put a smile on your face and will inspire you to do a bit of crafting.

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At the beginning of the workshop creation bit, we had a lovely intro and health&safety induction with the lovely artists working there and running the workshops.

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No glue and no boundaries of what you can create.

I am not a the best in crafts, but I thought I’ll give it a go. And I brought Melanie with me, the 10 year old lady who has been cultured multiple time now.

She was about to make a blue sheep and I decided to make a robot.

There was a lot of people – most of them parents with children. A great way how to spend Saturday morning.

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The workshop was really, really fun. There was a lot of excitement, creativity and laughs. Each kid had different ideas, parents joined in and the artist helped to execute great ideas.
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I promised the artists from the workshop to give 10/10 for the whole experience. I have changed my mind – 11/10.

Also, this was the last workshop as part of the Re-made in Hull, but fingers crossed ScrapStore gets more funding to continue.

As you can see I had a busy week. And I will have even busier next few, so keep your eyes peeled.

P.S.
During the week I also visited town centre in hunt for daffodils, which off course weren’t there. But I have managed to get to awesome children to show off theirs. There will be an artwork coming next week regards that.

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GREECE – CRETE – MARCH 2017

by anetesoodaLeave a Comment on GREECE – CRETE – MARCH 2017

WE WORK TO LIVE NOT LIVE TO WORK.

THE MOST PRECIOUS GIFT THAT MONEY CAN BUY IS TO GET OUT THERE AND SEE THE WORLD.

I haven’t been as fortunate to travel loads, but when I was in Crete, I made the most of it.
From the moment we arrived to the moment when we drank the tap water in Xania airport [comes free] before leaving I was completely inlove with the island.

My advice – travel with your gut, off or just before the season, take loads of photos and record small videos of breath taking moments, because when you leave, it all seems like a dream.

Speak to locals, shop locally, drink loads of good vine and eat good food, have early mornings and long walks on a night in the city.

Don’t be afraid to get lost, loose your shoes and leave sand from the beach in your bags and pockets.

Have the craziest car journeys and climb the mountains that you are scared off.

“Baah” with the wild mountain sheep’s and they will “baah” back to you like you are having a conversation, stroke every stray cat/dog and feed your rooster leftovers to the cafe owners dog.

 

Crete was perfect. Four days of perfection. I will never forget the time spent there.

P.S.
The gallery layout is a bit cheesy – sorry. I turned into a soft cheese myself whilst editing and writing this post.

 

Hull City Of Culture 2017

MY CITY OF CULTURE – MY HULL – WEEK 15

by anetesoodaLeave a Comment on MY CITY OF CULTURE – MY HULL – WEEK 15

HELLO.

 

At the beginning of the week, I was reflecting on 14 weeks spent following City Of Culture. It is a fantastic challenge to have.

Most of the weekly stories include more than one event, venue or activity and I get quite a wide range of photographs. And sometimes it become difficult to highlight the best.

Therefore this week I stuck to one event, also cos Easter weekend.

PAUL SMITH TO J.K.ROWLING BP PORTRAIT AWARD COMMISSIONS FROM NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY @BRYNMOR JONES LIBRARY IS THE FOCUS POINT THIS WEEK.

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The exhibition was one of the best selection of paintings I’ve seen. Some of them really eye catching and visually irresistible. I cultured a kid, we got do do some portraits of our own and off course – lovely chat with volunteers.

The Easter weekend was supposed to be filled with other photographic activities in Hull, like LEGO SPRING FLOWERS @King Edward Square, the Deep, Humber Street Gallery, but it happened to be food, lazy days and Yorkshire Wildlife Park.

But I have next week to catch up and I will definitely focus on more than one City Of Culture celebration.

SEEEEEEE YAAA NEXT WEEK AND HAVE A LOVELY LAST HOURS OF BANK HOLIDAY MONDAY!

Hull City Of Culture 2017

MY CITY OF CULTURE – MY HULL – WEEK 14

by anetesoodaLeave a Comment on MY CITY OF CULTURE – MY HULL – WEEK 14

Last week I was back on track with Hull City Of Culture

This weeks highlights:

 

 

On Thursday my mission was to find the Museum of Club Culture and Mark Wigan’s exhibition [link above].

I was passing the POPPIES: WEEPING WINDOW twice and that was more than enough to take another photo of  the display – the image of setting up the artwork few weeks ago contained two photographs together. This time – to get in the display and nosy members of public, it had to be three photographs.

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I know, I know…million, trillion photos have been taken with POPPIES: WEEPING WINDOW , each photographer does something else, but I choose to be one of them and have the recording of this.

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POPPIES: WEEPING WINDOW  is one of those artworks that appeal more diverse people, people who think that art is kind of a nonsense. And the actual detail in each poppy is incredible. So well done and I wish this to become the landmark of the season two of the year long celebration.

Ferens Art Gallery and OFFSHORE: ARTISTS EXPLORE THE SEA was something that I thought I had a quick look too, whilst I am in the area. I also had a company, so I got someone cultured.

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It turns out that I have forgotten about the balcony view and the exhibition space upstairs.

By that point I was in a funny mood – I started to notice or observe the wrong things, rather than art on display…

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Sometimes being able to have laugh through lens is the key to a success  –  look at Peter Dench and Martin Parr… these two [my fave] photographers have made their career on having a little giggle about humans.

I enjoyed myself and I hope Oliver Fisher will not think I have lost the plot somewhere in Crete.

I struggled to find TRANSGLOBAL ART OF MARK WIGAN on Thursday, really annoyed by my lack of concentration on reality vs. map.
But I found it on Thursday and I got four people cultured [the fourth person is not in the photograph].

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For some unknown reason, the Museum of Club Culture has been on my radar for some time and I was super excited. AND the artist himself was there too. If Mark Wigan is reading this blog – I should have explained why I photograph his museum. ITS FOR MY BLOG :)))))

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The art was AMAZING, my cup of tea. It is a mixture between a child’s wildest fantasies and grown-up experiences. Some of them really captivating.

I would love to go again so if someone is interested to join me, please let me know.

WASHED UP CAR-GO was something that I’ve heard of but when approaching the venue, I was disappointed that I have had a false info. I went into the Deep reception to ask, to demand – I have four people expecting to see an exhibition.

But there it was, right in front of my eyes.
Three cars at the Deep car park, spread out and quite frankly – hard to spot if you don’t know what to expect.

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So clever, well though out and interesting. My not so cultural friends with a sceptical eye towards art, said that it is very cool to have such random and used-to things turned into art. I was surprised myself and it is worth spending few minutes to listen to the music and watch the short films in one of the most creative screens ever seen.

There was few obvious questions raised – has the cars have TAX ROAD AND MOT, what about insurance, if they gonna be used after display…

The last, but not least was the Fountain 17 

We walked through Humber Street and thoroughly enjoyed the local offerings into antique “crap”.

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Fountain 17  is something that was exhibited and promoted at the Degree Show 2016. I blogged about it 10 months ago, just after my graduation. At the time I really wanted to apply for the project, thinking that I can do something with the urinal, but it never happened. So I was super keen to see what the artists have done.

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NOTE: The last image is my replication of the actual use, but not sure if I had a reasonable excuse…just imagine of what my mind goes through…

 

Some of the ideas absolutely fantastic, some of them hard to relate to but still interesting art. Was super lovey to see the three prints of amazing Anna Bean, Anna is a pioneer and an artist to look up to. And another great woman – artist – lecturer Alison Field has got a very interesting interpretation of the Fountain 17

There is more displays of Fountain 17 in studio eleven, Brodrick Gallery HASAD and Humber Street Gallery which I am hoping to visit this week.

Hull City Of Culture 2017

MY CITY OF CULTURE – MY HULL – WEEK 13

by anetesoodaLeave a Comment on MY CITY OF CULTURE – MY HULL – WEEK 13

Hello,

To all who follow me every week for 13 weeks.

My challenge appears very challenging when I am away from Hull.
Whole week I spent in Greece, Crete, soaking up sun, different culture, beautiful views, hard core driving up-hill and of course Greek wine.

From the very busy and hectic week 12 of my challenge, where I took on ReRooted Festival I have left a little cheat for the 13th week.

That week was the week the POPPIES: WEEPING WINDOW installation was out for the public to view, there was a buzz around it and a lot of people taking pictures.

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That week POPPIES: WEEPING WINDOW was surrounded by too many curious eyes to be able to take a decent picture, and for those who really wanted – patiently waited for that perfect shot.
I had no time to wait, unless I am there at 10 pm on the night, right?

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Poppies mean a lot to the British which is why there are two very brave guards making sure overnight POPPIES: WEEPING WINDOW are safe.

Week 14 plan is still under construction, as I am still sulking and recovering. I feel as though I have missed out on a lot by being away all week, so I have to catch up.

But it was very lovely to come back home to HULL.