Project Description
About James Wilde
Biography
James Wilde is a visual artist working with photography, installation, moving image and text. He is currently studying MA Photography at the Royal College of Art and has been the student photography representative of RCA2020 and Editor of the publication Fall Into Place 2020. He is organising the RCA Photography Programme forthcoming physical show taking place later this summer. In 2020 he organised Strange Halves an online student-led talk series, where he spoke in a panel discussion titled At Second Glance. He was also co-lead of Writing the Night, an Across RCA workshop held in 2019
Statement
Surfacing from a place of fear and intrigue, this work focuses on autobiography, traces of personal failure and the photographic. Through distilling images, by reworking them through alternative processes, these photographs investigate the use of metaphor, the collapse of masculinity and the potential to overcome shame. Visibility is shifted and veiled, through the physical deterioration of the photograph and the slow death of the image. Subjects both pull out of the darkness and are lost within it.
Moving between thoughts on the night, shame and the queer image, this research considers ideas of abjection, the fallen male figure and the apologetic. The notion of fixity has been crucial in terms of both the physicality of the works along with the concept of paralysis (or more so, the third stage of human decomposition; rigor mortis). The stiffening feeling of shame and Gershen Kaufman’s perception of shame being the ‘fear of self-exposure’ have resulted in this language echoing through to the darkroom. Solarisation has transformed some of these latent images (the process whereby the prints have exposure to light again), rendering a poetic analogy to marginal spaces, to being on the edge, being between states and the space of the night too.
Experimenting with the body, the still-life and interior spaces the limitations of the photographic image are revealed. The possibility of failure embedded in the process and becomes a driving force in the work. The photographs seek to harness an agency, where the self-reflexive nature of the work, uncovers a deeper analysis of shame through visual correspondence, scale and the play between private and public interaction. Photography here stands in as a visceral medium for and suggests an exchange between the image and the observer.
Education:
2018/20 MA Photography - Royal College of Art
2013/16 BA (Hons) Photography - London College of Communication (First Class Honours)
2014 Study Abroad - School of Visual Arts, New York (Fall Semester)
2012/13 Foundation Diploma: Art & Design (Photography) - London College of Communication (Distinction)
Experience
2020 Gallery Managment Assistant - Serpentine Galleries, London
2020 Show Lead Coordinator, with fists, it kicks, it bites, London (forthcoming)
2020 Editor for fall into place publication with Folium Publishing, London
2020 Virtual Show Representative, RCA2020, London
2020 Gallery Host - Serpentine Galleries, London
2020 Project Lead of Strange Halves - RCA Student-Led Lecture Series
2019 Project Lead of Writing the Night - Across RCA, London
2019 Organiser of RCA Offprint Table - Tate Modern Turbine Hall, London
2016 - Member of Writing Photographs - The Photography and the Contemporary Imaginary Research Hub
2016 Assistant/Performer for Brenda Vega - Threefold MA Photography Show, Ugly Duck Gallery London
2016 Gallery Assistant - Lychee One Gallery London
2015 Peer Mentor - University of Arts London
Group Exhibitions
2020 with fists, it kicks, it bites - Webber Gallery, TJ Boulting & Edel Assanti - Fitzrovia, London (forthcoming)
2020 Odyssey - Online Exhibition, The South West Collective
2020 RCA2020 Virtual Show - Royal College of Art, London
2020 Connection Lost - Dyson Gallery, Royal College of Art, Battersea London
2020 Blue Hour / PPS - Royal College of Art, Battersea London (Curator)
2019 Writing the Night Across RCA - Royal College of Art, Battersea London
2019 Everything the Same // Everything a Little Different - The Art Academy Newington, London
2019 Writing Photographs III - The Art Academy Newington, Wandsworth London
2019 Offprint London - Tate Modern Turbine Hall, London (Project Lead)
2019 Education in Progress / Research Fortnight - London College of Communication, London
2019 Work In Progress Show - Royal College of Art, Battersea London
2018 Photography Project Space - Royal College of Art, Battersea London
2018 GLITCH - Drums Unlimited Studios, Peckham London
2017 40 Months / In Exile Group Exhibition - New Cross Gate London
2017 Photography on a Postcard - The Printspace, Shoreditch London
2017 Writing Photographs Group Exhibition - LCC Studio Space Elephant and Castle London
2016 90 Degrees Final Year Show - London College of Communication, London
2016 Visitatori - Studio Guardione, Palermo Italy
2015 Flesh & Roots - No.63 Gallery Kennington, London
2015 Offprint London - Tate Modern Turbine Hall, London
2014 Close To The Bone - School of Visual Arts, New York
2014 Round The Corner - 5th Base Gallery Brick Lane (Curator)
2014 BAP1 Book Launch - BAR Gallery, London
2013 Foundation End of Year Show - London College of Communication, London
Publications / Features
2020 with fists, it kicks, it bites - Online
2020 LUX Magazine - Online
2020 Quite Queerly, RCA2020 Collections - Online
2020 fall into place, RCA Exhibition Publication - Print (forthcoming)
2020 Fotofilmic - Online
2019 Writing the Night Vol. 1 with Daniel John Bracken - Print
2019 The Tool & The Eye with Veronica Viacava (Self-published)
2019 Explorations of the self, Revolv Collective - Online
2019 RCA Work in Progress Catalogue - Print
2017 Photography on a Postcard - Online
2017 Losthenfound - Online
2017 Don’t Take Pictures, Photo of the Day - Online
2017 Lenscratch Content Aware - Online
2017 Streithouse Space - Online
2016 Photoworks - Online
2016 The Latent Image - Online
2016 The Photocaptionist - Online
2016 1000 Words Mag Twitter - Online
2016 Writing Photographs - Online
2016 90 Degrees Exhibition Catalogue - Print
2016 Visitatori - Online Catalogue
2015 Der Greif x LCC Collaboration Zine - Print
2015 Distant Stains (Self-published)
2014 Round The Corner Exhibition - Online Catalogue and Print
Talks
2020 The Body in the Work - Panel Discussion with Prof. Gemma Blackshaw moderated by Sarah Jones
2020 At Second Glance - In Conversation with Victoria Louise Doyle
2019 Everything the Same // Everything a Little Different - In Conversation with Ramona Güntert
2016 Adrian Rifkin: ‘Talking Writing into a Corner, or on research without ends’ (Writing Photographs)
The Photography and the Contemporary Imaginary Research Hub, London College of Communication
Residencies & Awards
2020 SW Darkroom x RCA Award and Residency
2019 Writing Photographs Residency - The Art Academy Newington, London
2016 Photoworks x LCC Award