My contribution to the exhibition was a mixed media installation that explored the construction of English identity in the 21st Century. The installation was made up of three interrelated works: 1. Two large photographic collages measuring 6ft x 4ft used Lowryesque compositions to examine regional difference, idiosyncrasy and conformity in our increasingly homogenised society. The works conflated surveillance aesthetic was the British media's obsession with celebrity culture and fashion. 2. A series of mobile phone photographs accompanied by a text that explored the invasion of privacy in 21st Century society. Issues relating to intimacy and the concept of the gaze in general are investigated through an artist-subject relationship that also includes the viewer. 3. Objects in display cases chosen on the basis that they might be exhibited in years to come as relics of English identity at the beginning of the 21st Century. This work also references semiotic techniques used by department stores to heighten the desirability of their merchandise by making it appear as if a precious relic or work of art. North and South was produced in collaboration with the following galleries who also simultaneously exhibited work on this theme: Reg Vardy Gallery, National Glass Centre Gallery, NGCA Gallery, Millais Gallery and Southampton City Art. Significance The September 2007 issues of Art Monthly and a-n Magazine contained reviews of North & South. State of Art, Summer 2007, contained 'Jennifer Anyan Phone Portraits' an article on my mobile phone photographs with text, exhibited at the John Hansard Gallery and Circus Gallery, London 6th July – 7th December, 2007. My work was supported by a commission awarded by the John Hansard Gallery in partnership with Reg Vardy Gallery, Sunderland.
Source of abstract:
http://casiad.solent.ac.uk/Staff/Profiles/Jennifer%20Anyan.asp
