the 4 pegs

A stolen day in Venice with my husband before heading home to Edinburgh for a family Christmas was the inspiration for this exhibition.

 

This is a very personal exhibition, as it's the first time I've been able to work with my brother and curate an exhibition with him.

 

I'm grateful to my family for all their help and support. They've made canvases, paid for space and transport and for encouraging me through the process. I'm especially grateful to my husband who makes me feel like an artist and loves all my work.

 

I hadn't planned to exhibit at the Fringe this year, but when I saw the photographs of the ripples on the canals and the sun rising above the laguna, I thought they were so special that I decided to share them.

 

When I started the curation process, I recalled my first trip to Venice and the concept for the exhibition came to life. The workshop space shows photographs from 2004 taken on my first digital camera, a Minolta that my mother bought for me in New York at the legendary camera store, B&H. The gallery room hosts one night photographing Murano.

 

Lux Venice (January 2004)

 

When I first visited Venice I hadn't started my photojournalism career. I had just taken a manual photography class in New York. I discovered that I took great, but picture-perfect shots; the canal photo that opens the exhibition is stunning. I love the haze across the canal and the off-centre perspective that invites you to view symbolism in old Venice, the canal poles, and the working heart of the city, the piers. It was taken from the side of the Pointe dell Accademia bridge.

 

The collection of photographs in the workspace explores the blue, gray tones of Venetian trachyte stone in St Mark's Square and ends with a brass water fountain framed by layers of bricks and spackle in shades of brown and pink, illuminated by the winter sun.

 

Nox Murano (December 2023)

 

20 years later my husband and I arrived in Venice and stayed on the island of Murano. I had just purchased a lens designed to capture the night sky. The gallery space tells the story of one night on Murano from 4am to sunrise.

 

The pictures show light reflected on the canals, boat traffic before dawn and the Christmas lights at the Church of Santa Maria e San Donato. You can see stars in the sky, the lights reflected in the water and the lighthouse at the edge of the island. The exhibition ends with a stunning sunrise across the laguna.

 

The canvases show hues of blue, from midnight blue in the sky to morning blue in the canals, Alice and queen blue in the sunrise, iridescent pewter blue in the water reflected under a canal bridge, and stunning cerulean frost in the dawn.

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