Visual Athletics Club

For Visual Athletics Club I curated a set of colour images from an archive of my work, developed over the past five years. It takes 'always be looking' as its guiding principle, and comes from a long-term interest in the street, environments and a love of light and space.
The project starts with the proposition – is it possible, in today’s globalised postmodern world, to build an archive of everyday observations using basic photographic technology (35mm plastic and disposable cameras) that will:

·display a different perspective on photographic image making
·construct original narratives and new meanings by sequencing, editing and curating the images
·act as an antidote to the prevailing cynical imagery that dominates the art documentary arena

The work is influenced by photographers such as Nigel Henderson, Helen Levitt, Stephen Shore and Walker Evans and inspired by John Berger/Jean Mohr’s ‘Another Way of Telling’.

In Visual Athletics Club I have applied rigorous selection criteria. Diptychs create third effects and different meanings that deny the original context of the images.

Ed Barber

Research Interests

Photography, portraiture, uniforms and identity.

Current Research

Edward recently started a practice based PhD at London College of Fashion - 'W1: World One / Portrait, Place and Appearance in London's West End'.