The Blue Oyster presents Matthew Hammond

The Blue Oyster presents Matthew Hammond

The Blue Oyster is pleased to present Matthew Hammond | */Journey/ * and Hamish Tocher | Overhead Project (Villa of the Mysteries). In quite different ways Hammond and Tocher both interrogate the conventions and modi operandi of photography. The exhibitions will open on Tuesday 3 November at 5:30pm and will run until Sat 28 November.

For the series of black and photographs that make up */Journey/ * Matthew Hammond has chosen to begin simply, with a bus ride through Edinburgh. A static viewpoint out of the bus window limits the seemingly endless possibilities of vantage point available to a photographer. The bus route further constrains possible subject matter to a predetermined linear trajectory through the city. Through these choices Hammond leaves himself only one option - when to press the button. What results is a sampling of the vastly different social, spacial and architectural worlds that make up Edinburgh, where the bus window becomes a familiar formal constant; indexing the role of the camera as a devise for framing reality and forming the only visible link between these potentially disparate images.

Hamish Tocher's Overhead Project (Villa of the Mysteries) draws upon the figures, mysterious initiation rituals and dominating crimson hues of the Pompeiian fresco cycle of the Villa of the Mysteries. Using hand crafted projection devices Tocher has recreated and reimagined this classical chamber and its enigmatic scenes.
With an undercurrent of mourning for the passing of the analogue tradition of photography, these ephemeral light projections sit at odds with the historical endurance of the frescoes they reference, whilst alluding to photography's historical origins in the unfixed projections of the camera obscura.

In association with these exhibitions the Blue Oyster will be running another series of educational workshops which will allow students to explore the photographic techniques used by Matthew Hammond and Hamish Tocher. Workshops will be held on Thurs 5, Tues 10, Thurs 12, Tues 17 and Thurs 19 of November from 1 -3 pm. Participation is free and available to school groups from any year. Bookings are essential - email education@blueoyster.org.nz to reserve a time for your class.

ENDS