Hyundai Translocal Series: Entangled and Woven at the Whitworth

Photographing Entangled and Woven at the Whitworth

I recently photographed the opening of Hyundai Translocal Series: Entangled and Woven at the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester. The exhibition brings together new work by contemporary artists and collectives from Korea and India with historic textiles from the Whitworth's collection, exploring connections between Manchester, India and Korea through textiles, craft, migration, labour and cultural exchange.

The opening was a chance to photograph the artists, curators and gallery team as well as the exhibition itself. Alongside portraits and group photographs, I made documentary photographs throughout the evening, looking for the smaller moments and interactions that give an opening its atmosphere.

A new exhibition at the Whitworth

Entangled and Woven is the first exhibition in the Hyundai Translocal Series, an international project developed through collaboration between the Whitworth, the Cheongju Craft Biennale in Korea and the National Crafts Museum & Hastkala Academy in New Delhi, with support from Hyundai Motor Company.

The exhibition brings contemporary textile practices into conversation with historic works from the Whitworth's collection. The contemporary artists work across different approaches to textiles, including weaving, dyeing, embroidery and hand-spun fibre, with many of the projects involving collaboration with artisan communities in Korea and India.

The result is an exhibition that connects very different places and histories through the material of cloth.

Photographing artists with their work

One of the main parts of the assignment was photographing the artists in front of their work. These portraits needed to do more than simply show what someone looks like. The artwork is an important part of the story, so finding a position where the person and the work could sit comfortably together in the frame was important.

Working inside a gallery gives you some very good backgrounds, but it also means there is a lot competing for attention. The challenge is to find a composition where the artwork remains recognisable without overwhelming the person.

I was looking for ways of using the work as part of the portrait rather than treating it simply as a backdrop.

Using the gallery as a backdrop

The Whitworth is a particularly good place to photograph people because the gallery spaces give you so many different possibilities. The architecture, the colours and textures of the works, and the changing light across the galleries all become potential elements in a photograph.

I'm always looking around for these things when I'm photographing in an exhibition. Sometimes a fairly simple wall gives you the clean background you need. At other times, a complicated installation can create a much more interesting composition.

The trick is knowing when there is enough happening in the frame and when there is too much.

Finding interesting light

Gallery lighting can also be quite unpredictable. Different rooms and exhibitions can have very different lighting conditions, and the light that works well for looking at an artwork isn't necessarily the light you would choose for making a portrait.

Rather than trying to impose the same approach on every photograph, I was looking for places where the existing light worked in my favour. Sometimes that meant using a particular part of a gallery because of the way light was falling across a wall or an artwork.

In a setting as visually rich as the Whitworth, the light is another part of the composition.

Photographing the opening

As well as the portraits, I wanted to document the opening itself. Gallery openings are busy, often crowded and full of movement, and there is always a danger that the photographs simply become a collection of people standing around looking at things.

I'm looking for something a little more observational than that. People moving through the galleries, conversations taking place in front of the work, someone pausing to look at an installation, or a group of people framed by an artwork can all tell you something about the atmosphere of an opening.

The aim is to make the photographs feel as though you are actually there.

Working in a creative environment

Photographing an exhibition like Entangled and Woven is interesting because you are working in an environment that is already highly considered visually. The artists and curators have spent a huge amount of time deciding how the work should occupy the gallery.

As a photographer, you have to respond to that rather than fight against it. The exhibition provides an enormous amount of material to work with, but it also means that finding a simple, effective composition can sometimes be harder.

I'm constantly looking for relationships between people, artworks, architecture and light. A person standing in exactly the right place can completely change an otherwise ordinary photograph.

Group portraits with the artists and curators

I also photographed groups of the artists together with the curators and the director of the Whitworth. These photographs are a different proposition from the individual portraits.

With a group, you have to think about the relationships between people and how they fit within the space. At the same time, it was important that the photographs remained connected to the exhibition rather than looking like a conventional corporate group photograph.

Using the gallery and the artwork behind the group helped give those photographs some context. They show the people responsible for the exhibition while also making it clear where the work belongs.

Documenting the people behind the exhibition

One of the things I like about photographing exhibitions is that there are usually two stories happening at once. There is the exhibition itself, and there are the people who have made it happen.

Entangled and Woven is particularly collaborative. The project connects artists, curators, institutions and artisan communities across Korea, India and the UK. The works themselves reflect those connections, so photographing the people involved is an important part of documenting the exhibition.

The photographs of the artists and curators therefore sit alongside the more general documentary images, giving the final set a human element.

The opening after the gallery

Once the formal opening had finished, the evening continued with a meal in the Whitworth's café with the artists, curators and the gallery director. I photographed this part of the evening as well.

The change of setting made a noticeable difference. After the speeches, photographs and conversations in the galleries, people were able to relax and spend time together away from the exhibition spaces.

These photographs are often some of the most useful in documenting an event because they show the relationships around it. They also provide a different kind of portrait, with people less aware of the formal occasion and more engaged with one another.

Photographing contemporary art in Manchester

There is something particularly enjoyable about photographing contemporary art in a gallery like the Whitworth. The work gives you an unusual environment to work in, but it also sets a high bar for the photographs.

You're surrounded by things that have been carefully made and carefully displayed, so the challenge is to find photographs that respond to that visual language without simply reproducing it.

For me, that means looking for the unexpected combinations: a person against a particular section of an installation, a shadow falling across a wall, a group framed by the architecture, or someone caught in the middle of a conversation.

Telling the story of an exhibition opening

A set of event photographs works best when it feels like a complete record of the occasion rather than a collection of unrelated images. For this opening, that meant photographing the artwork, the artists, the curators, the visitors and the atmosphere of the evening.

The portraits give the exhibition a human face. The group photographs show the people behind the project, while the documentary images show what it was actually like to be at the opening.

Together, they create a visual record of the launch of Entangled and Woven at the Whitworth and of the people involved in bringing the exhibition to Manchester.

Photography in creative spaces

This is one of the reasons I enjoy working as an event and portrait photographer for galleries and cultural organisations. The environment is already creative, and the job is to find a way of adding another layer to that without getting in the way of what is happening.

Entangled and Woven gave me plenty to work with: textile installations, historic objects, interesting architecture, changing light and, most importantly, a group of artists and curators who were there to celebrate the opening of the exhibition.

Photographing the evening was therefore partly about documenting what happened, but also about responding creatively to the environment. The photographs needed to show the exhibition and the people involved while still having enough energy and character to stand on their own.