Aftermath 2094: George Holder
How would you describe your practice?
I am currently interested in how photography can tell a story, whether that be about a person, a group of people or about places. I use photography as a tool to understand and connect with my surroundings, as well as bringing forward issues that I am concerned with.
What are you trying to communicate through your work?
Truth, or at least what truth is possible within the confines of photography. I want my work to be enjoyable for everyone and would like to attract a more varied audience and bring my work into the homes of others as well as galleries. I take a light approach to my work and feel a desire to make artwork more democratised.
Are there aspects of Our Silver City, 2094 that inspired your work, outlook or you personally?
From an artistic view I really enjoyed the literal writing of Liz Jensen’s novella Our Silver City, 2094. I found it a very enjoyable read, well worded and it really resonated with how realistic the future could be.
Describe your process of developing your work on this project from ideas, conversations through planning, to experiments and production.
To start with, I pitched the idea of creating artist-led portraits as means of documentation – a different approach to the typical behind the scenes pictures. I wanted each artist to have something original that represented them in some way. I worked alongside them with Tamara Clarke, the other photographer within this placement. We developed ideas for each individual portrait looking at inspirations and themes in their work, which we then took to photographing in a range if locations.
What does it mean to you to you to collaborate on this project?
It is wonderful to meet artists working with different mediums. I have been very inspired by the artists’ works and it has been a pleasure to see their works progress and to collaborate to develop their portraits.
What do you hope visitors will experience or take away?
Mostly I hope that visitors will enjoy the exhibition and will use this as a springboard to look further into the issues and topics that the artists discuss within their work.