‘Out of Office’ – Portrait Series

The Visual & Digital Arts Department at Morley College London is led by a team of inspiring Programme Managers. This group of inventive artists and creative practitioners teach a range of specialist courses at all levels.

These photographs were made for an exhibition held in the Morley Gallery at Morley College. The Show opened 5th October 2017 and ran until 26th October 2017

‘Out of Office’ explored what happens when the managers leave work at Morley and return to the studio. It will examine how their teaching practice informs and develops their own work, alongside the ways in which their creative practice reinvigorates and strengthens art and design teaching at Morley.

The Managers:
Michelle Avison, Programme Manager for Printmaking & Bookbinding
Duncan Hooson, Programme Manager for Ceramics
Lynda Kinne, Programme Manager for HND Fashion
Marian Lynch, Programme Manager for Textiles
Steve Mepsted, Programme Manager for Digital Media & Photography
Cathy Reynolds, Programme Manager for Fashion
Sara Robertson-Jonas, Head of School for Visual and Digital Arts
Anna Silverton, Programme Manager for HND Ceramics
Helen Smith, Programme Manager for Jewellery
Sheila Vollmer, Programme Manager for Sculpture
Kate Wilson, Programme Manager for Painting, Drawing & Art History

It was a pleasure to go to colleagues studios, making portraits, recording their spaces and working practices. The sessions were collaborative and fun and I was always pleasantly surprised by the spaces I encountered. For this series I chose to shoot on film, using available light and one roll of film per person.

I used a Bronica medium format camera. The considered and steady process of using this camera (as opposed to the instant gratification of a digital slr) afforded me the opportunity to slow down and consider the shots I was making.

All images shot on Kodak Portra 400 120 film.

Photographs of Steve Mepsted by Anders Birger.