David Penny
David Penny: “It took a good while to realise that my photography could most clearly be described as still-life. Whilst learning about the medium, everything was interesting to me, at first I wanted to make portraits, landscapes and pictures from the street and would carry my camera everywhere, but increasingly I began to make things to put in front the camera.”
Devices for Progress
“I was always interested in the apparatus and ancillary devices of photography, the machines, chemicals and materials used to make pictures, so even though I couldn’t place my work in a specific context and was shooting all sorts of stuff, I can now see a thread throughout that relates to an engagement with technology and objects.”
Devices for Progress
“My recent practice has a number of underlying themes that have come about through the study of the still life genre. There is a recurring relationship with the domestic and the idea of overlooked objects found within that space.”
Outside of the Walls
“I often work with overarching titles to help with ideas for work, these then change as pictures get made. A favourite has been Between Use and Ornament, which helped to inspire the work Devices for Progress. Outside of the Walls is the current generative title; at the moment these images are to do with creating a hybrid photographic space between signs of the traditional still life image and the product shot. I’m interested in how images of objects might contribute to an understanding of how certain objects or spaces come to be associated with particular gender, whether masculine, feminine or elements of each.”
Outside of the Walls