My ideal venue for displaying a set of photographs from Assignment 5 would be the Side Gallery in Newcastle (dream on!). I very much doubt that there would be enough prints to properly fill the space in one of the two upper galleries but there is a small space on the ground floor that would work. It is though fairly small and so the prints themselves would similarly have to be kept on the small scale, probably no bigger than 8×10 inches. Exactly how they would be hung is difficult to estimate, or sketch, at the moment as I do not have any clear details of the scale of this space, which is little more than a large alcove with two and a bit usable walls. Depending on the final number of images though I would expect them to hang in a single row at eye level.
The next most suitable space locally would be the gallery at the Queen’s Hall in Hexham. Again, it is difficult to judge scale but I would expect that a dozen or so prints could easily be accommodated in the main ground floor space of a size up to A3, which is the biggest that I can currently print. Again, one row of images at eye level on the two main walls of the space, with perhaps a couple between the windows on the western elevation that overlook Beaumont Street.
As the subject matter is going to be locations in Stocksfield it would of course be nice to be able to display them here in the village. Unfortunately though, I cannot think of a suitable location. The village hall is not set up to act as a gallery. The Quaker Meeting House would be a nice venue but is too small and again not really suitable as a gallery space. The same goes for the cricket club. The local school (I am still not sure it is going to feature) might be a possibility but then there are issues with access. The local church hall is similarly not geared up to act as gallery.
This is a shame as having read John Walker’s essay (which I got from academia.edu rather than Scribd), it is clear that a local exhibition of local views would have an extra resonance for people local to the village. Such a display context would have greater meaning for people who live here in the village, and who might not otherwise necessarily see the pictures if they were hung in Hexham, albeit only about ten miles away. Equally, Hexham based viewers would not necessarily ascribe the same meaning and importance to such local images.
This is, I suppose, the central point to Walker’s piece, that where and how images are displayed inevitably has an impact on their meaning, just as, for example, does the juxtaposing of images, and the use of text either as caption or accompaniment. How and where images are displayed carries with them implications for the value, cultural or monetary, that might be ascribed to them. This is of course something that has been touched on before in the context of considering what amounts to a “photograph”: something that appears on a gallery wall is naturally going to be regarded as more “valuable” than something that is printed in a newspaper. McLuahan again and the medium as message.
The other main point I take away from his writing is the question of individualism in responses to images. I had not really thought about this before but it now seems to me to be obvious that there will not necessarily be as many different reactions to a picture as there are viewers. Yes, each individual might bring something particular to themselves to their engagement with and response to a photo but there will also be a great deal in common within groups of viewers. Certain experiences, values, understanding, beliefs, will be shared in common within any given group and that should mean that there will be a certain commonality in the way the images are read.
I have had some limited experience of this in the past when exhibiting some of my etchings and prints. In one group show that I participated in all the works were of the same dimensions and hung in the same way. There was a resulting sense of equality, no one’s work being favoured in any way over that of the others. In another group show (in a commercial gallery) there was a much more hierarchical approach, some prints being framed and hung, others simply mounted and put in browsing racks. The different contexts immediately drew different responses to the works from the buying public: the framed and hung pictures were much more likely to be bought than the others. Needless to say my work was only in the browsers and none of it sold! I did also have a small one-man show that coincided with the Tall Ships race calling at Newcastle some years ago. The pictures were of a nautical theme and the show took place on board one of the sailing ships that was taking part (a former colleague arranged things for me with the captain). Because of the context, the nautical theme, the display on board the ship, the prints actually sold quite well!
https://www.academia.edu/11911020/Context_as_a_determinant_of_photographic_meaning
Mark Robinson's OCA Landscape, Place & Environment Blog 