Initially exhibited at Friese-Greene Gallery, Brighton, UK, 29th Oct. to 14th Nov. 2010
then selected for Les Recontres D'Arles Photographie, France, 4th Jul. to 18th Sep. 2011
and nominated for The Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2012
Exhibition Statement:
"Contra-invention represents the consolidation of two years of investigation into the photography of Traffic Wardens (correctly termed Civil Enforcement Officers) in the Brighton area. Each time a fine is issued, a number of photographs, Contravention Images, are taken as evidence of illegal parking. As it turns out it is easy (currently) to obtain these images by recording only two items of information from the parking ticket itself. I have been accumulating these photographs and generally recording, documenting and studying the activities of Traffic Wardens in the Brighton area.
Unquestionably cars and those who operate around them are a significant, and oddly overlooked, aspect of the contemporary landscape. A cross of street photography with vernacular concepts, the exhibition is not an attempt to show off all the outcomes from the investigation described, though the catalogues produced for it do document the activity more comprehensively. Presentation in terms of certain typical entertainment values has been avoided. Instead Contra-invention is an attempt to find beauty amidst the clutter, to locate painterly history say in modern low-tech functional photography and to demonstrate what is laudable in the incidental. “Poor images” are offered up here as something which can be simultaneously jokey and monumental.
Exhibition includes:
• Incidences of Traffic Wardens caught in reflection on their own photographs
• (4) incidences of the artist Mocksim caught in their photographs
• Night shots deemed aesthetically pleasing (and enlarged to the scale of a real car)
• Detailed data about every picture obtained: shutter speed, aperture etc.
• Catalogues documenting the whole process, with further street photos of Wardens in action"
Thanks for dedicated ‘co-ration’ and text writing to Huw Bartlett, to Hito Steyerl for her influential essay In Defence of Poor Images, to Vanessa Jones at Freese-Green Gallery and finally much gratitude is owed (for their unwitting generosity) to the Traffic Wardens of Brighton numbers 114, 206, 222, 304, 364, 437, 478, 583, 607, 625, 639, 647, 654, 660, 669, 687, 690, 697, 709, 731, 732 and 735.
This was an exhibition of Fine Art: no joke intended.
Thanks for dedicated ‘co-ration’ and text writing to Huw Bartlett, to Hito Steyerl for her influential essay In Defence of Poor Images, to Vanessa Jones at Freese-Green Gallery and finally much gratitude is owed (for their unwitting generosity) to the Traffic Wardens of Brighton numbers 114, 206, 222, 304, 364, 437, 478, 583, 607, 625, 639, 647, 654, 660, 669, 687, 690, 697, 709, 731, 732 and 735.