Parting shots

Pride of place: from ‘Identifying England’ by Derek Trillo

With photography established as the universal pastime sine qua non, what creative space is left for those who take the craft seriously – who insist, even, that their pictures are viewed as works of art? And are the rest of us too jaded to react with any degree of aesthetic excitement?

The eleven students completing their Masters in Photography at De Montfort University, Leicester, have, in their individual ways, sought articulate answers to these questions. The group, whose members include a teacher, a nurse and a former government advisor, has explored a diverse range of subjects for their graduation show: British wrestling; the River Tyne; Volkswagen cars; a prehistoric path through Derbyshire; national flags; advertising; empty spaces; public monuments; alcoholism.

Image from ‘The Portway – a line through time’ by Nick Lockett

Derek Trillo has gone in search of England flags and Union Jacks in unexpected places, as signs of a ‘new, inclusive’ national identity: in one picture, a tumbledown shack in some unnamed wasteland has a flag hoisted proudly above its doorway – it will, its owner realises, be visible for miles around.

Alan Duncan’s powerful black-and-white images of the post-industrial River Tyne contrast nicely with Nick Lockett’s cheerful posed compositions of life in rural Derbyshire. Brian Pomeroy’s evocative study of a rented property between tenants is a simple, lucid example of how art can make the familiar seem new and strange.

Photofiction is at the City Gallery, Leicester, 24-29 October.

Images: copyright Derek Trillo and Nick Locket