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FOAM MAGAZINE #20 / TALENT / LEONIE PURCHASLeonie Purchas Leonie Purchas, born in 1978, is British. After taking honors in the History of Art she worked as a full-time assistant to the photojournalist Tom Stoddard. She has won numerous awards including the Ian Parry Sunday Times Young Photographer, the Jerwood Photography Prize, the Arts Foundation fellowship, the F Photography Award and most recently the Paul Huf Award. She has had solo shows at the Rome Photography Festival. She organizes photography workshops from her studio in London with Still/Moving. Her work has been featured in The Sunday Times Magazine, The Saturday Telegraph Magazine, Portfolio Magazine and Newsweek. See www.leoniepurchas.com for more information. In the Shadow of Things explores the emotional terrain of Purchas’ own family. For over two years she has been helping her mother confront her depression and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, working with her to clear the piles of clothes, boxes and bags which filled much of the house. In exchange, her mother Bron, step-father David and brother Jake agreed to let her photograph whatever she deemed important, with the understanding that the images might eventually be displayed in public. She has photographed the whole turbulent ongoing journey, creating a moving visual diary that conveys both the oppressive weight of her mother’s low days and the laughter and love which Purchas hopes will ultimately prevail. The exhibition in Foam Museum juxtaposes a slideshow of this photography with a room of films, diary entries, found photographs and other archival items. |
