ICON is the culmination of a project which explores what makes an image iconic. A group of artists who have experienced homelessness worked with Rory Carnegie to learn about the different aspects of making a photograph through investigating iconic imagery. The project exposed them to the technical craft of great photography and the complex logistics involved – from composition and lighting to make-up and prop sourcing – but it also enabled them to think deeply together about their emotional engagement with the images, generating feelings ranging between celebratory, nostalgic, social, political and traumatic. The photographs were selected due to their iconic status and include representations of some of the most recognisable and famous people, or moments, in recent British history.
The group recreated fifteen photographs, in some posing alongside colleagues from Crisis and Arts at the Old Fire Station, making it a truly collaborative experience. ICON asks you to re-examine these images, with people who often feel disreqarded or iqnored now centre staqe.
Rory Carnegie : Icon
16 November – 23 December 2019
Old Fire Station
40 George Street
Oxford, OX12AQ
https://oldfirestation.org.uk/
