Melinda Gibson wurde 1985 in Aldershot, England geboren. Heute lebt und arbeitet sie in London. Ihr Fotografie Studium am London College of Communication schließt sie erfolgreich mit dem Bachelor ab. Danach assistiert sie verschiedenen Fotografen wie zum Beispiel Martin Parr oder Wolfgang Tillmans.
Ihre Arbeiten wurden beim diesjährigen Flash Forward Emerging Photographers Award von der Magenta-Stiftung ausgezeichnet und Melinda ist eine von 15 Künstlern, die vom Foam Magazine für die neue “Talent”-Ausgabe ausgewählt wurde.
Sie war so nett für iGNANT ein Statement zu der Reihe “The Photograph as Contemporary Art” abzugeben:
“This series of work titled, “The Photograph as Contemporary Art” examines the educational text by Charlotte Cotton. Through the medium of photomontage, each piece is a trio of imagery removed from the book and re-contextualised as one.
This body of work brings forth questions surrounding our educational system, copyright and licensing as well as audience participation.
As the publication of imagery continues digitally, every image can be searched for, clicked on, cut, copy, pasted. Yet a book manages to hold onto its copyright, as by law you may only reproduce 10% of the entire volume. What becomes apparent is the canonisation of imagery found in such sources, the same photographers, images appear and re-appear.
This sameness is only reiterated through the educational system bound to our institutions. These textbooks that are presented to us, to hold dear, do little to expel such problems. Or do they?
Taking such texts apart helps to really question this canonisation, far more than when they are within the constraints of a book. By slicing, cutting, composing these images against one another, you de-contextualise them, recreate them into new dismembered realities.
Each piece is composed of three separate parts, where the same sized images are manipulated into one; placed under or over one another, parts have been removed, discarded while others have been added. Each image is an appropriation of an original, re-organised with additional elements that makes itself into a new original. Through this deconstruction you start to gain a greater appreciation of the works and start understanding why and how these photographers, these images have become so prominent.”
Via: Trend Hunter | All images © Melinda Gibson
