Chris Leslie: Disappearing Glasgow
Arpita Shah: Dear Green Place
Photofusion London, 24 January - 02 March 2019
17A Electric Lane, Brixton, London SW9 8LA. More Info here
Opening Reception: Wed 23 January, 6.30pm. Talks by Arpita Shah and Chris Leslie: Thurs 24 January, 6.30pm @ Photofusion
A collaboration between Street Level Photoworks and Photofusion, London sees an exhibition of work by D. Wiafe and Mark Aitken in Glasgow, and work by Arpita Shah and Chris Leslie in London.
Chris Leslie's Disappearing Glasgow documents the changing face of Glasgow’s built environment, as many of the high-rise tower blocks that once dominated the city skyline have been blown down and demolished. For over a decade Leslie has been chronicling the transformation of Glasgow’s post-war housing infrastructure and the communities that lived there, now dispersed throughout the city. His photographs serve both as a striking visual record of Glasgow’s changing social architecture at a time of regeneration and a lasting testament to the people who once called these communities home.
Chris is BAFTA Scotland New Talent award winning Photographer and filmmaker and is widely acknowledged as the most consistent chronicler of the city’s recent history. Disappearing Glasgow is a long-term multimedia project documenting an era of spectacular change in Glasgow through photography and video. He has documented stories across Eastern Europe, The Balkans, Africa and Asia as well as in his home city of Glasgow.
Arpita Shah's Dear Green Place explores Glasgow’s teen culture through portraiture and was developed as part of Shah’s artist residency at Street Level Photoworks. Drawing from particular Scottish enlightenment paintings that depict the young in nature, Dear Green Place explores each teen’s relationship to their environment. As they traverse through the pockets of Glasgow’s urban green, each intimate portraitgives us a glimpse into transient nature of adolescence and various identities and vulnerabilities inherent in it.
Arpita is a photographic artist and educator based in Edinburgh. She works between photography and film, exploring the fields where culture and identity meet. As an India-born artist, Shah spent an earlier part of her life living between India, Ireland and the Middle East before settling in the UK. This migratory experience is reflected in her practice,which often focuses on the notion of home, belonging and shifting cultural identities. Shah’s work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Detroit Center of Contemporary Photography (2013); Tramway in Glasgow (2014); Focus Festival in Mumbai, India (2015); Chobi Mela IX in Dhaka, Bangladesh (2017); and Autograph APB in London (2018). Her major solo exhibition 'Nalini' , funded through support from Creative Scotland, is premiered at Street Level from 9th February to 7th April 2019, and also at An Lanntair in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis in October 2019. She is co-founder of Focàs Scotland, an initiative which supports local and international emerging photographers.
Banner Image: © Chris Leslie/Institute. Disappearing Glasgow is exclusively distributed by INSTITUTE
Left Image: © Arpita Shah
