Elly Clark

ELLY CLARK: Artist and a former student of the School of Fine Art. “I am interested in using photography to illustrate different perspectives on the world and alternative ways of seeing. By involving other people in the image making process, I step away from the traditional role of the photographer as outside spectator. Instead I am forced to interact with the community or cultural context I am working with(in).. .” October 2007 - January 2008: “Moscow to Beijing - The Journey”, Gallery West, University of Westminster, London

- graduated 9years ago, after beginning a Curating MA Course at the Royal Academy, only to switch to a Fine Art MA Course at Central St. Martins
- Very interested in research and practice/ video installations/ follows a mostly photographic practice/ inspired by modern day travel and communicability and how it affects space and relationships
- Her work also travels, thus ironically adding to the journey concepts within her work
- Clark's work was heavily informed by conceptual writing and literature. I was really interested by the David Rousset (1912-1997) extract she read, about how the French writer's diary was a recording of his wanderings around Paris as in these 'hours of solitude, he was his own master, what nature made him to be'.
- Clark's work reflected her enjoyment also in fluidity, as her art practice often had an unpredictable ending due to the methods she implemented
- 'Everything is fluid, I like to capture these notions of presence and absence'- therefore allowing her work to portray Clark's and her participant's mental and physical travel
-Her initial work was inspired by the internet, as Clark felt threatened by the ability to publish or find anything, the lack of personal space, the reduction in individuality etc.

'Broadway House Photo Project', 2002-3
- Lived in a large council estate in East London and wanted to gain a sense of her neighbours
- Those who agreed to participate in her project, she lent a camera to for a week
- Asked the participants to take a photo of the view from their kitchen, lounge and bedroom window, and a photo of something they liked in their appartment
- Exhibition of the photos held in a nearby gallery- participants got to take home their photos
- I thought the idea was relatively simple, but the organisation due to Clark's particular methodology, meant the final images were really thought-provoking and subtly informed the viewer of the participant's character and thoughts about how and where they lived


'The Trans-Siberian Photo Series', 2005-6
- In some ways, this was a continuation or enhancement of the Broadway House project, as this too mapped an area, though one from Moscow to Beijing
- To fund her travel, she auctioned photos even before they had been taken on Ebay- I thought this was ingenius
-Asked already assembled and translated questions to the passengers on the train and if they agreed she took a photo of them. She also gave cameras out to willing participants who agreed to take photos of their journey and send the camera back to her
- the cultural and linguistic gap made the project a really interesting way to document the differences