Week 9 - Exhibition Analysis

For our exhibition visit this week, we visited Peter Mitchell's Nothing Lasts Forever at the Photographer's Gallery.

Peter Mitchell, Scarecrow 66, Date Unknown

Mitchell's exhibition, Nothing Lasts Forever, is a collection of his work over the years capturing the people and places of Leeds, and how they change over time. The first photo I have decided to look at is Scarecrow 66, a photo capturing a scarecrow standing in a field of wheat. I chose this photo because the composition initially drew me in. I was attracted to the way in which the scarecrow was framed, alone in the field, but with two trees symmetrically behind the scarecrow on either side. The photo has a large depth of field, and is framed at eye level with the scarecrow. This photo is set in an agricultural area, showing a different part of Leeds than the majority of the exhibition. This photo does a good job at capturing a sense of lonesomeness, as we feel we are alone in the wheat field along with the scarecrow, framed in front of two trees.

Peter Mitchell, Scott, Dean, Neil and Gaudy the dog. Sunday 25 June 1978, 2 p.m. Westmorland Road, Sheffield.

The second picture I decided to examine is the one above, showing a house with its members sitting outside on Westmorland Road in Sheffield. The photo is composed with the house taking up most of the frame, with a large building cast in the background, likely a residential flat building. The photo is somewhat two dimensional, with both buildings lying relatively in the same plane, causing the photo to not have too much depth. The dark brick of the house is contrasted with the light colored background building and bright sky. This is a documentary style photograph, showing two contrasting living situations in Sheffield. One being a two story home with steps right out to the street below, and the other being a large building with many stories and flats.

Peter Mitchell, Mr. and Mrs. Hudson, Wednesday 14 August 1974. 11a.m. Seacroft Green, Leeds

The final photo I will be examining is the one above, titled Mr. and Mrs. Hudson. The photo shows two buildings, a church and what is seemingly a newspaper store. The store is cut in half, with one side demolished while the church is intact. The framing in this photo is what initially drew me in once again, with the contrasting colors of the buildings being a main draw. The buildings take up most of the frame, with little background of the surrounding area of Leeds being visible. This photo does a good job at capturing the architecture of Leeds, on one hand showing the more modern style architecture of the newspaper store, and the other showing the classic brick architecture of the Methodist Church beside it. There is a theme of temporality in this photo, with time eroding the store but the church remaining intact over presumably many years.

Overall, this exhibition from Peter Mitchell does a great job in capturing the people and places of Leeds. It captures the changing times, ways of life, and mindset of the people living there, all while creating visually pleasing photographs through deliberate framing and composition.