ALICE BLANCH
SMALL PEANUTS: PINHOLES
Small Peanuts is a series of images captured on 4×5 sheet film in a homemade pinhole camera fashioned out of an old sheet film box with a hole pocked in the lid. The series was inspired by the gardener/photographer Charles Jones who spent almost a lifetime photographing the plants from his garden during the 1900’s. Jones composed his photographs in the simplest way, allowing the flowers, fruits and vegetables to show their individual characteristics and natural beauty to his camera. Jones’ work led me to view fresh produce in a different way; it was not just something that I chopped up for my dinner but something that had an individual story and personality.
Before I placed anything in front of my pinhole camera I observed and listened to each piece of fruit and vegetable in an attempt to understand their personality and individual quirks to see how best they might relate to one another. I wanted to create a series of images that presented everyday fresh produce in a new light, capturing human characteristics and relationships for others to see.
BIOGRAPHY
Alice Blanch is an emerging Australian photographer influenced by the ephemeral nature of the sky and its relationship to the landscape below. Alice works with photographic film, enjoying its magical and unpredictable characteristics and is passionate about using analogue processes and techniques in new and experimental ways.
Alice graduated from her Bachelor of Fine Arts at the South Australian School of Art in 2010, receiving the top marks of her graduating photography class. In 2012 she relocated to Hobart for a year where she undertook her Honours in Fine Art at the Tasmanian School of Art.
Alice regularly exhibits in solo and group exhibitions around Australia, in April this year she held her first major solo exhibition at Perth Centre for Photography, and in 2011 received funding to travel to Pingyao, China to present and exhibit her work at one of the largest photography festivals in the world. Over the last 3 years she has been nominated for and awarded a number of art prizes and grants within Australia, most notably she was the recipient of the 2011 Fleurieu Youth Arts Prize and was one of only two South Australian artists to receive the 2013 Australia Council ArtStart grant.