21st October to 25th November 2011

“This body of work was made along the North African coast, in Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia during the Arab spring of 2011. Rather than focusing on the immediate political situations I intentionally made images that were dislocated from references to place. My photographs do not form a documentary evidence of any particular event or, in any direct sense, of any location. By reducing the information available the viewer is unusually left to make sense of an empty field of vision, in doing so they are asked to trust their instinctive readings of photographs placed in an insistent sequential format.”

Internationally renowned photographer Ikuko Tsuchiya won the Fox Talbot Award (1997) and the Jack Jackson Award (2000). Her photographs of the people of the Botton Community in Yorkshire, won her the prestigious Observer Hodge Award in 2000.

Ikuko Tsuchiya
土屋育子

This exhibition presents portraits of people, all over 65 years of age and living in North East England, with a form of display inspired by the traditional Japanese way of showing, distributing and sharing visual information: ‘Kakejiku (hanging scroll)’. The glimpses afforded visitors of the subjects of the scrolls will have an accumulative effect.
The portraitures were produced by Ikuko Tsuchiya, Japanese photographer who is a lecturer in the Fine Art Section, the School of Arts and Media, Teesside University. She was the Jo Spence fellow at Northumbria University between 2001 to 2003, and her photographs have been exhibited nationally and internationally.

For the past three years I have worked predominantly with Lens-based media photography & video. Works have presented themselves as an ongoing investigation into portraiture, relationships and identity. Questions regarding themes of “Origin” and “Genealogies” link into ideas of the ephemeral in photography and what it means to document the passing of time.

For my show at Profile Gallery I intend on working with large format photocopies which will enable me to create an installation where the gallery walls literally become like pages where I can work directly onto the wall. I plan to juxtapose images of people alongside images of landscapes, again the two most dominant themes within my work….

Kraig Wilson 2011

Toby Smith is a contemporary reportage photographer concentrating on energy and environmental issues. His seminal project, ‘Light After Dark’, focused on the 32 coal power stations of England and was met with critical acclaim including a six page spread in the Saturday Times.

In a follow-up to Light After Dark, Smith has turned to the renewable ‘alternatives’ to produce a continuing project documenting the history and development of renewable energy. Throughout each phase of ‘The Renewables Project’, he hopes to stimulate discussion and debate, drawing attention to a growth industry at the forefront of global sustainability.

Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) supported the first phase of this project, allowing Smith privileged access to some of the hidden corners of the renewable industry. Smith and SSE worked closely in choosing the most appropriate sites considering aesthetic, cultural and historical factors in order to produce a body of work that reaches artistic, public and industry facing audiences.

From February 2010, Smith spent three months in Scotland using his vehicle as a production base, home and office to immerse himself in the surrounding environment. His photography style and sense of adventure lends itself naturally to the dramatic and invigorating Scottish landscape. He encountered freezing temperatures as low as -15 degrees Celsius with over 2 foot of snow resulting in fantastic visibility and sharp crisp light. He covered much of the central highlands and outlying areas, reaching heights up to 1200m and visiting hydro dams as long as 700m.

Smith specialises in unique lighting conditions. Using large-format traditional negative enables him to work in very low light using exposures lasting many hours resulting in incredibly detailed prints. Above ground he captured dramatic panoramas, vast arctic-like scenery and alluring night images lit by the moon and stars. Below ground he explored hidden underground tunnels, engineering marvels and colossal turbine halls.

Smith exhibits a selection of his images from the initial phase of ‘The Renewables Project’ which celebrates the union of striking landscapes and sustainable energy structures. He hopes to continue expanding this portfolio, working with other industry experts, with the aim to raise awareness of sustainable energy production and its key players both in the UK and internationally.

To view examples of Toby Smiths work please visit his website

For further details and information or to discuss working with Toby on this dynamic project please contact: E: toby@shootunit.com T: +44 (0) 20 8133 7588.