FORMAT23: Oliver Chanarin

Description

Photographer Oliver Frank Chanarin premieres his first solo exhibition at the Museum of Making in Derby, on the occasion of FORMAT International Photography Festival (FORMAT23).

The project is commissioned and produced by Forma in collaboration with eight UK organisations throughout 2022. Over the next two years, different iterations of the project will be presented nationally.

Oliver Frank Chanarin’s new work explores the drive for attention, the complexity of being seen and the anxiety of being overlooked, in the shifting terrain of documentary photography. It comprises over a thousand negatives, 300 analogue prints and is accompanied by written accounts that offer reflections on the mercurial nature of identity in Britain. The project is the result of multiple journeys undertaken around the country on the peripheries of the mainstream. Framed by conversations and unexpected encounters, workshops and collaborations, Chanarin deploys an analogue camera as a tool for social exchange. The resulting images speak to the dynamics and expectations at play between the photographer and sitter, whilst the complete archive captures a highly subjective record of a nation in transition.

Forma has partnered with eight UK institutions to co-commission Oliver Frank Chanarin’s new project and co-produce the work in their region. In Derby, Chanarin and Forma collaborated with QUAD/FORMAT and Derby Museums to make portraits with people and communities in Derbyshire.

Beyond Derby, the project’s nationwide co-commissioners and co-producers are: Artes Mundi, Cardiff; Guildhall Art Gallery, London; KARST, Plymouth; Norfolk Museum Services (Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery, Norwich and Time and Tide Museum, Great Yarmouth); Original Projects, Great Yarmouth; Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Wolverhampton. The production has been made possible through generous funding from Arts Council England, the Art Fund and a National Project Grant awarded by the Arts Council England. Kick The Dust and City of London Corporation have supported the productions in Great Yarmouth and London respectively.

About FORMAT23

FORMAT International Photography Festival – organised in partnership between QUAD and the University of Derby – returns in March 2023, emerging from the days of global pandemic with renewed purpose – poised to transform the historic city of Derby into a vibrant showcase for the very best photography and lens-based media being produced today.

The days of lockdown were seen by many as a chance to reflect and recharge, upending perceived agendas and to think about the world anew. For FORMAT23 we invite our audiences and our colleagues to stop, take stock and consider ‘What Photography Can Be’.

FORMAT23 will feature exhibitions in key Derby cultural organisations such as QUAD, Déda, Artcore and the Museum of Making, alongside revitalising repurposed buildings and public places, celebrating work by a worldwide community of artists. Notable exhibition projects as part of the festival include Radical Souls at QUAD that will focus on global dance genres and notions of self-identity, and a new body of work by award-winning photographer Oliver Frank Chanarin at the Museum of Making that explores ‘the drive for attention, the complexity of being seen and the anxiety of being overlooked, in the shifting terrain of documentary photography’.

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Suitable for all.

Image: Oliver Frank Chanarin, with Adam, 10 x 8 inches, c-type print, unique artist proof (#0192888727), 2022. Courtesy and © the artist. Commissioned and produced by Forma, in collaboration with nine UK organisations. Supported by Arts Council England National Project Grant and the Art Fund.