Norman Road a Happening Place for Photography

This month sees exhibitions across four galleries in Norman Road St Leonards, each with its individual character and each showing photography.

Agata Read – Frames On The Distaff Side

Agata Read explores the process of intervening in the material structure of a photograph, incorporating the relationship between photography, feminism, and textile craft. She creates unique, hand quilted and embroidered pieces using photographs and yarn. Photography and thread each have their own characteristics with which they impregnate photo-embroidery. Thread is tactile and haptic, while photography elevates the visual, and emphasises the content.

Photography is rooted in technology, while working with thread owes more to traditions of craft, with strong historical connections to women. Feminism is the clip that holds the thread and the photograph together in the work. Feminism perceived, apart from philosophical references, as an everyday experience of the social role of a woman, a mother and caregiver.

Exhibition continues until Saturday 5 August
Project 78 Gallery,  78 Norman Road, St Leonards on Sea TN38  0EJ
Gallery Open Wednesday – Saturday 11:00 – 17:00
project78gallery.com  |  @project78gallery  |  agataread.com  |  @agiread

Rafe Eddington – Joie De Vivre

A glorious collection of limited photographs by Rafe Eddington. Within this collection Rafe gives us a unique portrayal of the Bohemian spirit of St Leonard’s on Sea, capturing some of the town’s most loved eccentrics. In this, Rafes first solo exhibition, he presents us with vibrant, and dynamic large format acrylic works on aluminium.

“As we leap out of our comfort zone, for that second, control is interrupted the true self revealed” – Rafe Eddington

Exhibition continues until 6 August
Rogue Gallery, 65 Norman Road, St Leonard’s On Sea, TN38 0EG
rogue-gallery.co.uk  |  @roguegallerystleonards  |  @rafeeddington

Rossanne Pellegrino – Extremely Supernormal

Extremely Supernormal is a playful and bordering-on-the-bizarre exhibition of works on paper and on textiles, combining collage, print and techniques often considered ‘women’s work’. The exhibition takes selected pieces from Rossanne Pellegrino’s series, ‘No Wallflower’ and ‘Play at Home Mum’, and explores themes of memory, identity, domesticity and play.

“Storytelling plays a big part in my work. Growing up I always remember a lot of old family photos, trinkets and keepsakes – from both sides of my family. I think because they moved to Australia from other parts of the world, using these objects to keep memories and tell stories was important to them. It is now of no surprise to me that I use these sorts of materials in my work today.” Rossanne Pellegrino 2023.

The Show is open till 12 August
Tuesday to Friday 1-5pm and Saturday 11-5pm
Solaris, 76 Norman Road, St Leonards-on-Sea TN38 0EJ
solarisprint.co.uk  |  @solaris_print  |  rossannepellegrino.com  |  @rossannepellegrino

Brian Aris – Two Worlds

Lucy Bell Gallery presents ‘Two Worlds’ a unique exhibition exploring five decades of the career of renowned British Photographer Brian Aris.

Brian Aris, who now lives on the South Coast, started out his photographic career as a photojournalist during the 1960s-1970s His work for a London Agency took him on a series of frontline assignments around the world covering civil unrest and riots at the start of ‘The Troubles’ in Northern Ireland, the plight of Palestinian children in Jordan, the Civil War in Lebanon, famine in Africa and the war in Vietnam, where he worked until the final days of the conflict in Saigon.

In the late 1970’s Aris changed direction and opened a studio in London where he started photographing fashion for newspapers and magazines, regularly flying to exotic locations such as St.Tropez and Jamaica for weeks at a time to work with a succession of top models. At the same time he gradually broadened his studio work to include pop and rock including The Jam, The Clash, The Boomtown Rats, Roxy Music and The Police and eventually turned away from the model world to concentrate on the music industry which was exploding in Britain.

During lockdown Aris decided to use the time to go through his own archive and started to curate a book of his own images, the exhibition ‘Two Worlds’ is a snapshot of his illustrious career, and preview of his book.

Exhibition continues until 12 August
Lucy Bell Gallery,  46 Norman Road, St Leonards on Sea TN38  0EJ
lucy-bell.com  |  @lucybellgallery  |  brianaris.com  |  @brianarisphoto
Review – Guardian newspaper feature

Image Gallery