Angela Blažanović – Free Range Solo Award Shows 2020

03.10.2019

Following another succesful Free Range Graduate Shows earlier this year we are now gearing up for the 2020 Free Range Solo Shows, taking place next February at the Truman Brewery.

In addition to each winner being awarded an exhibition with the Free Range Solo Shows 19/20 – supported by Metro Imaging – both artists receive an annual mentorship and professional guidance in the lead up to their exhibitions, plus £1000 credit for services at our production lab.

The Free Range Photography Week 2 Metro Mentorship Award was given to Angela Blažanović, student from The Cass, with her project ‘Fragments Of A River’.

We had the opportunity to meet with Angela and ask her to tell us more about her practise as well as her winning photography project.

1. Firstly, congratulations on winning the FREE RANGE Solo Award for Week II, what does this award mean to you?

Thank you very much! I am extremely honoured and excited about winning this award, especially after seeing the amount of amazing works exhibited at this year’s Free Range Show. There was such a great range of excellent photographers and inspiring projects exhibited. I really did not expect to win. And to be at the position of preparing for a solo exhibition at the Truman’s Brewery is more than I could have imagined achieving at this stage of my career. I am very grateful for this opportunity.

It is a very significant and I guess difficult moment of changing from full-time education to being a self-sufficient artist in the professional world. So although the cash bursary is an amazing reward, I am even more grateful for the professional mentorship with Metro Imaging and Shutterhub this award entails.

2. You won your award with the work ‘Fragments of a River’, an ongoing project created for your degree show, can you give us some further insight into this body of work?

‘Fragments of a River’ is a series of sculptural still life photographs of discarded objects found along the river Thames. It is an anthropological study and investigates the objects’ lost narratives.

After visiting the river shore for the very first time last year, I was captivated by the river’s ambiguity; its constant shift between the dangerous stream and calm sanctuary with the cycle of the tide. I got interested in the idea of the landscape speaking of the humans it inhabits and started photographing sculptural compositions in order to make sense of my findings.

All images of the project are shot at the river shore itself, with the objects I find on the day. The sculptures are photographed in a moment of balance. The resulting tension of an anticipated collapse speaks to the temporary nature of my compositions and the mentioned ambiguity of the river. With a rising tide, the sculptures are submerged in the river again and the cycle starts anew.

3. How would you describe your photographic style and process, what inspires you to make photographs?

I am not sure I can commit to a specific style. I like to explore new things and set myself new challenges, although there are reoccurring themes in my work. Previously I had worked on projects exploring identity and the notion of home, which were very much inspired by my own upbringing and personal story. I have always been interested in the symbiotic relationship between human and landscape. So with ‘Fragments of a River’ I wanted to explore this connection from a different perspective.

Although my project does not include any people, humans are a central subject to it. It investigates their traces within a landscape. And it is this specific influential relationship between the two that I feel passionate about.

4. Part of the FREE RANGE prize is a professional mentorship with Metro Imaging, in the run-up to the solo exhibition, what are you looking forward to learning or hoping to gain from the experts here at Metro?

I’m very much looking forward to working with the whole team at Metro Imaging. I feel like the mentorship will be a great opportunity to expand on areas which maybe weren’t covered as much during my studies.

I’m looking forward to the lab session to learn more about professional printing and framing. I am also eager to learn about promoting my work and expending on my curatorial skills while working towards the solo show.

 

IMAGES © Angela Blažanović.