A group of second year Photography students recently hosted their own public exhibition ‘Sonder’ exploring identity and self-expression.
As part of the recent Viewpoints Photography festival, in which students and staff from the School of Digital Arts (SODA) showcased their work at a series of workshops and exhibitions, a group of second year students from BA (Hons) Photography hosted their own public exhibition ‘Sonder’ at Shoe-gaze café.
Caspar Seansena and Megan Sharland, two of the team behind ‘Sonder’ explained the concept behind their exhibition: “Sonder is a word that describes the realisation that everyone around you is living a life as vivid and complex as your own. For the project itself, we took this concept and developed it into our own interpretations. Some of these interpretations included: identity, self-expression and lifestyle, with particular members focusing on these themes to explore the lives of individuals rather than people as a whole”.
The Viewpoints Photography project aims to give students a taste of real life exhibition planning, tasking them with working on all stages of the process from devising the exhibition theme and curating the work to installing and marketing the exhibition. Megan explained the many steps involved: “Putting this exhibition together has been a long process, involving lots of planning and experimenting. If it wasn’t for our partnership with shoegaze cafe, then we wouldn’t have had this opportunity to exhibit our work in such a great and intimate venue. Caspar and I used mixed media in each of our installations, such as moving image and music, which was an interesting experience when installing, as it gave us more to consider. Our mixed media consisted of using projection for a moving image piece, and incorporating music for an interactive experience”.
“One thing that we have learned over the course of this project, is handling all the logistics behind putting on an exhibition. For example, organising fundraising events, and finding the correct venue for us. These are skills we’re sure will come in handy in future”.
