Exhibition of photographs

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33049, 17 October 1972, Page 24

Exhibition of photographs

An exhibition of photography by Bill Nichol and Bruce Edgar, on show in the Canterbury Society of Arts gallery, adds a slightly different dimension to our everyday understanding of photography. This is particularly so in the case of Bill Nichol, who introduces space as an element by arranging photographs either side of a screen so that on one side is displayed a back view of whatever subject is portrayed on the other side. He adds novelty to this by having two front views of the same girl, with back views, of course, arranged on screens about Bft apart and then linking the two with a piece of string so that the girl holds either end.

In another panel of photographs of an orchard, Mr Nichol plays with perspective to create a conflicting series of vistas by moving, at intervals, the centre of vision and thereby introducing a time factor. There are other ponderable exhibits by Mr Nichol

including a stone sitting on a photograph of itself and a clock face photographed every hour on the hour for 24 hours and arranged round a map of Christchurch. Bruce Edgar’s contribution to the display is a beautifully produced set of colour photographs arranged in rows on the floor so that one can stroll among them as one might move among flowers in a garden. —G.T.M.