The Guernsey Photography Festival invites an international photographer over annually, who produces a body of work inspired by the island, Mark Power was selected inn 2017.
He was born in 1959 in Harpenden , UK and became interested in photography after finding a home-made camera made from a flowerpot, light bulb and lens. when he was older he went to art college and studied life-drawing and painting which developed his love for the arts. He graduated and spent the following two years travelling around South-East Asia and Australia going in and out of various jobs to financially support himself. He finally ended up running a camera department in a chemist in Bankstown, Australia. Over these two years he discovered that he preferred taking photos than drawing and the traditional art that he had been trained it, when he returned to the uk he became a photographer.
For the next ten years he worked taking photos for editorial and charities and then became a teacher in 1992. At this time he was also doing more and more self initiated project which have been showcased in galleries and museums all over the world such as the Victoria and Albert museum and los Angeles Country Museum.
He has over the years published 8 books of his work: https://www.markpower.co.uk/Bookshop. One of my favourites is “DIE MAUER IST WEG!” which translates to the wall is gone! it is a visual experience of the fall of the Berlin wall which Mark Power was present at. He displays his images in a newspaper style with german stories and images which help narrate the event and shows his perspective. This piece of work links to the topic of political landscapes and is an area i am interested in looking into further. Most of his work has a political motive which helps to give it body and meaning and connect the beautiful and intriguing images to a real life situation.
Mark power takes an alternative approach to documentary photography and experiments quintessence of the environment he is exploring. He often take photos of evocative objects, situations, materials or even animals that he comes across whilst exploring an area. A ring flash is used in most of his work to achieve a raw and highlighted image which are often on the theme of humans and the trace they lave behind them in daily life.
In the collection taken in Guernsey he gives a less picturesque view of the island and focuses on refined beauty rather than the obvious. Like a researcher in his lab, Power operates a very meticulous visual investigation. His work is a personal artistic interpretation of an unfamiliar, but strangely familiar, small island and its unique identity.
