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Prosopopeia
Louise Ryan

A photography exhibition at Kodak Express, Camden
Kodak Express, 75 Camden High Street, London NW1 7JL
23 January – 20 February 2009

“I visited a place that told a story.  Although the inhabitants appear long gone, I
heard their voices.  A cacophony in the silence of the deserted streets.  
Listening to their tales of monotony, excitement, happiness and sorrow, I
came to understand who they were.  The melancholy surrounding their
disappearance even whispered to me from the peeling paintwork, the detritus
of their existence.  They even told me who they were and I wept...and I
laughed...and I waved goodbye.”

In this photography exhibition at Kodak Express in Camden, Louise Ryan gives
her own slant on what it means to be an object possessed.  Although the term
prospopeia has been used in the past by artists, Louise Ryan views London as
an object in itself, the sum of its parts.  She displays a narrative in the form of
photography.

We see the city through the eyes of a visitor in a future time when human
habitation has ceased.  Drawing inspiration from the films The Quiet Earth
(1985 – Written by Craig Harrison and Directed by Geoff Murphy), Threads
(1984 – BBC – written by Barry Hines and directed by Mick Jackson) and La
Jetée (1962 – Written and Directed by Chris Marker), she also draws from her
own personal experience of the political climate of the early 1980's when the
extinction of the human race was a real possibility due to the nuclear threat
brought about by tensions between the US and the Soviet Union.  Her memory
of reading the Protect and Survive booklet issued by the UK Government
(HMSO 1980) and of her own terrifying, childish nightmares of sudden
annihilation have prompted her to explore London with a new perspective.  
Comparisons are also drawn with the more insidious threat facing the human
race today, that of climate change and raises a rather disturbing question:
Based on the self-destructive behaviour of the human race – how long will it
survive?

Louise Ryan has recently returned to the UK after having lived in Ireland for
many years.  Her fascination with the arts has lead her to formalise her
artistic education and she is currently attending London Metropolitan
University working towards her BA(Hons) in Fine Art.  Louise Ryan currently
lives with her father and her two young children in North London.

www.louiseryanart.net/prosopopeia
www.kodakexpresscamden.com

DATES
23 January – 20 February 2009

PRIVATE VIEW
Friday 23 January 2009 - 7pm-9pm

ADMISSION
Free