70 Camberwell Church Street, London, SE5 8QZ
020 7358 4475 house-gallery@hotmail.co.uk
Camberwell Nights
June 16th - June 27th
Camberwell Nights is an exhibition of nocturnal photographs and video work set in and around Camberwell by Hatty Lee. Lee has been living and making work from the area for the past ten years since completing an MA at Chelsea College of Art. This exhibition brings together some of this work as part of Camberwell Arts week.
The exhibition takes place in two locations, The House Gallery and The Hermits Cave Pub. In the Hermits Cave Lee has taken the 18th century prints and early 20th century documentary photographs of Camberwell which line the walls of the pub as her starting point. She has returned to these places again and again, photographing the sites from a similar angle at night. For the duration of the exhibition the old pub pictures will be replaced by contemporary versions which in turn may one day become as dated as the originals.
The exhibition continues in the House gallery further down Camberwell Church Street and features the following work: Window Cleaner: This video has been filmed from inside a local cafe and shows the window cleaner slowly and skilfully dragging the soap suds across the glass, occasionally obscuring the view of the passers by on the street outside, creating a mesmerising effect.
Night Shift: is a video projection which was filmed from a car driving around South London at night. The view is shot straight onto the side of the street. Every time the car stops a passer by may walk in and out of the frame like actors in a film. There is a slightly voyeuristic feel to the video as in the film Taxi Driver, the soundtrack of which the piece shares.
Alongside this video in the main gallery space there are a series of four photographs of local shop fronts lit up on the inside at night. The Grosvenor Steakhouse, The Barber Shop, The Sewing Machine Shop, and Launderette have all since closed down as businesses have been replaced by others. Like Atget who photographed a changing Paris at the turn of the last century, Lee is interested in documenting spaces around Camberwell before they change and are redeveloped. There are no people in any of these photos which creates a sense of absence for the viewer to fill, like the empty places with neatly folded napkins on the tables in The Grosvenor Steakhouse or the empty washing machines in Launderette.
Finally 'Camberwell Nights' sets the scene for the exhibition and is the title of the show. This view was taken over South London from the back of the artist’s flat at dusk as day turns to night. Again there is a voyeuristic feel to the work, this time reminiscent of the film Rear Window as one looks out over the city at night and imagine the lives of the people who inhabit these spaces.
Contact Hatty Lee for further information on 07966088138 or at hattylee@talk21.com
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