Join us at St Mary’s where Simon Roberts’ talk entitled ‘Landscape Studies of a Small Island (And a few other photographic stories)’

T.S. Eliot once wrote that the point of any journey is to find out where you came from. This urge to explore one’s homeland and question our collective identity is a powerful one. It has occupied the efforts of writers and artists for centuries. In this vein, much of Simon Roberts’ photography over the past eighteen years has been based on journeys around Britain. This talk brings together several different projects that Roberts has worked on since 2006. As well asa journey through a changing Britain, it will represent one through Roberts’ evolving artistic practiceover the past twenty years. We English (2007-2008) and Pierdom (2010-2013) record an idyllic portrayal of Britain seemingly at ease with itself, whilst Merrie Albion (2007-2017) and The Brexit Lexicon (2016-2018) chart the mood swings of a diverse national culture grappling with various social, political and economic challenges.“Roberts’ captivating and technically accomplished large-format pictures reveal much about modern humanity-a tapestry of the beautiful, the poignant, the surprising and the surreal. He encourages us to slow down, to spend time contemplating his images and, in turn, contemplate the complex society in which we all live. ”Susanna Brown, Curator. V&A

BIO:

Simon Roberts is a visual artist based in Brighton, UK. Widely recognised for his large-format, tableaux photographs of the British landscape, his practice also encompasses video, text and installation work, which together, interrogate notions of identity and belonging, and the complex relationship between history, place and culture. He has exhibited widely and his photographs reside in major public and private collections, including the George Eastman House, Deutsche Börse Art Collection and Victoria & Albert Museum. In 2010 he was appointed the official British Election Artist by the House of Commons Works of Art Committee to produce a visual record of the General Election on behalf of the UK Parliamentary Art Collection; and in 2014 he represented Britain during the UK-Russia Year of Culture. He has been commissioned to make several large-scale public artworks and recognised with numerous awards including an Honorary Fellowship to the Royal Photographic Society, the Vic Odden Award and grants from Arts Council England and the John Kobal Foundation