Despite having to fight a rather unsympathetic brick wall, it was largely a pleasurable experience hanging the Peaceful Places prints at the Earth Café yesterday. As much of my work recently has been focussed on participatory events, the documentation of which is displayed mostly online, I had almost forgotten just how enjoyable it can be to get work out physically into a public display. In the short time I was in the café hanging the work, I received very enthusiastic and positive feedback on the photographs from four separate customers and it is always very gratifying to see people derive genuine pleasure from your work.
Though the Peaceful Places series has been something of a tangent from my recent practice, I have enjoyed working with the images so much I had already begun to consider developing some painting work from them and having experienced this response at the café, my intentions in that area have been somewhat galvanised! I think it is important to keep things fresh and dynamic anyway, and we’re still just about near enough the front end of the year to be thinking about changes in direction for 2014! Who knows, perhaps this tangent can end up being a new and as yet undiscovered path!
A selection of ten prints from the Peaceful Places collection, are now on display at The Earth Café underneath the Manchester Buddhist Centre in the Northern Quarter, and you can view these as well as placing orders for copies, which can be collected or delivered.