March 2012 Photography Course at CAC, Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

In March Michelle’s course at the CAC got into full swing. Michelle wrote a series of blogs posts about shoots and projects that form part of the CAC course and educational items along the way such as, transforming structures into visual art, the transmission of ideas in photography from one person to another, and a perspective on urban space by Spanish photographer Xavier Rivas.

March 2012 End of Course Project – The Pool

Over the next few months, a contemporary art project involves shooting six nude and semi-nude female models in empty, half empty or abandoned swimming pools, representing the inner journey of the female form and references to their past experiences.

The project title: The Pool

The first of these shoots, inspired by the Helsinki School of photography, was shot in Andalucia in an almost-empty swimming pool with model Sarah Gatward. The shots were presented and well-received during a lecture at the CAC.

March 2012 Contemporary Art Day Trip to Seville

Students and staff from the Contemporary Art Museum in Malaga travelled to Seville. The day trip included a visit to the contemporary art foundation, Fundación Valentin Madariaga, a non-profit organisation whose objective is to promote, organise and disseminate initiatives and activities in the following fields: training, labour, business, environment, culture and international development. Michelle and her fellow students also visited the Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporaneo in Seville; both were very interesting and enlightening.

The uneasy contrast of the Roman Catholic building where the CAAC Seville is located, a former monastery (Monasterio Santa Maria de la Cuevas), with the sounds and visuals of modern art installed in that same space, was simultaneously unsettling yet inspiring.

Artist Carlos Aires Exhibition in Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

Sparked by her ongoing interest in contemporary photography, Michelle attended the inauguration of the “Opening Night” exhibition by Carlos Aires with Rebekah Thompson for Andalucia.com and photographed the event, the exhibition and the artist.

The exhibition was a light installation in the form of 2,500 traditional Spanish farolillas (small lanterns used at ferias) made from copies of archived images from ABC newspaper, strung across the full breadth of the gallery. It was a hard-hitting exhibition, with illuminated images of ecstasy, pain, violence and happiness. A great idea for an art installation, with deliberate random 10-second power cuts, leaving the viewer temporarily in darkness. Carlos Aires is indeed a name to watch.

The Rock Hotel, Gibraltar

On 30 March Michelle´s father celebrated his 80th birthday at the Rock Hotel in Gibraltar. Never one to let a photographic opportunity go by, Michelle asked Tom Chaplow to model his best suit in his hotel room, complete with suitcase open displaying its contents on the bed where he would sleep that night.

Michelle is truly fascinated by hotels and hotel rooms. After two decades of travel, she knows that the contents of a suitcase can be very revealing. The most unusual item in Tom Chaplow´s case was a birthday present of a ceramic garden frog, which croaks when people pass the garden. The frog provided added entertainment value by spontaneously croaking every time the studio lights she used for the portrait went off. Happy Birthday to Michelle’s Dad, with a somewhat unusual portrait to capture the occasion.