about
Brief bio;
Mark Pilkington studied Fine Art before completing a Masters degree in Photography at the Royal Collage of Art in London. He has taught photography at a number of UK colleges before moving to the UAE in 1997. At the American University of Sharjah he was made a Full Professor teaching both practical and history of photography courses before returning to the UK in 2018. Mark has exhibited in the UK, notably at the Photographers gallery, National Portrait gallery, Barbican in London and Format International Photography festival in Derby. Mark has exhibited extensively in the UAE and has had two solo exhibitions at Tashkeel gallery in Dubai as well as exhibiting in the Sharjah Biennale 6 and 7. His work has also been shown at a number of international art fairs including the Turin Art Fair, Beirut Art fair and Art Dubai.
Statement;
I make photographs. My practice is less about providing a mirror or documentation of subject but rather it is an attempt to transcend the literal, to highlight something particular within the image.
My most recent work has concentrated on working directly with landscape. This work represents a particular response to the natural world, not one that describes nor attempts to explain but one that explores feeling and response. Compositions exclude as much as possible in order to highlight the particular. In some ways this new work is a departure from my previous practice, which was characterised by photographing myself as a protagonist in an otherwise uninhabited landscape. The commentary in those works concentrated on both the sublime and also a persons sense of belonging and/or longing.
Some notes on the ‘work’ sections;
1972- 77
Having completed an art foundation course at Bristol, I studied Fine Art at Winchester School of Art. By my final year my practice was entirely photographic. I graduated on to the photography MA program at the Royal College of Art, London. My work there embraced a performative element often using the self to indicate and explore an open narrative.
1977 – 81
Having graduated from the RCA I made excursions to both Amsterdam and Berlin where the performative nature of my work was further exercised. In these works, I employ an essentially statuesque presence/response to the environment. The pose adopted for the photographs by the Berlin wall references photographs I saw documenting persons who were planning to escape the then East Germany by going over, through or under the wall.
1981 – 85
While also working as a part time educator I made narrative works that involved using myself as a protagonist in an otherwise unpopulated environment. Most of the works still adopt a static pose but also there is the introduction of movement in some of these works.
1982-83
I knew Helen Chadwick when we were both on our art foundation course in Bristol in the 70s. We worked collaboratively on ‘Ego geometria sum-the labours’ in the early 80s as an extension to her own sculptural work ‘Ego geometria sum’. The sculptures and photographs have been exhibited both separately and collectively as an instillation of the sculptures, photographs together with dividing curtains.
1981 – 90
This work is an association of work made on both the island of Gozo and USA. The photograph of the ‘dancing person’ was made looking through a window into an artist’s studio in New York. It was only later that I found out this was the studio of Robert Longo where he was working on his drawings for’ men in the cities’. In addition, at this time I became a full time educator in the UK before moving to the UAE in 1997 where I taught both the practice and history of photography.
1997- 2008
Work in this section was used in the first exhibition held at Tashkeel gallery in Dubai titled ‘Islander’. Tashkeel established itself as an arts centre that ran workshops, exchange programs, exhibitions as well as providing studio spaces for its members. At this time in addition to living and working in UAE we bought a house on the Mediterranean island of Gozo.
2018-2012
During my sabbatical year from teaching at American University of Sharjah I lived on Gozo for 6+ months making photographs. Outcomes from this work were exhibited both in Malta (ChristineX gallery) and at Tashkeel in the form of a solo exhibition titled ‘soundings’
2012
Following heart surgery in 2012 I made work that referred to ‘recovery’. The desert in particular provided an appropriate background for this exploration and expression.
2013-14
The recovery series of works was further developed on the island of Gozo, taking advantage of its particular landscape and island perimeter.
2015-19
Gozo as an environment has often provided opportunities and inspiration for new works/encounters to be made. The work often refers to a reoccurring theme in my work that of belonging/longing
2019-21
I retired from being a professor in 2018 and we returned to the UK after 20 years in the UAE. Work from this time in part refers to observing and responding to this ‘home’ environment.
2020-21
We moved to north Yorkshire in 2019 to a house with a garden. The pandemic that followed necessitated isolation and during that time I photographed the garden. Not so much as a documentation rather an attempt to provide voice to the subject through the way it has been photographed.
2022-23
When going for local walks I would often collect stones and bring them to ‘the studio’ where I may arrange them singularly or collectively for photographing. Arrangement was an essentially an intuitive act but later became something more conscious, the stones began to refer to a circumstance or relationship between people. I also began collecting stones from further afield. In making the photographs there is little reference to location, scale and even gravity, rather the stones float in some form of undefined environment where they become something of themselves. Generally, the results have an ambiguous, often silent quality. The stones have been denied their found environment rather they have been isolated and are now encountered as individuals or as a set of figures.
2024 ongoing
I have not ended the collecting of stones but now have also started collecting/taking other elements from the environment to use in my work. I am also using a scanner to make some of these works. A latent narrative in these pieces is both personal and important to me.
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I start by being responsive (me)
I make something that is a photograph (not me)
Then, I make it me again by making decisions (me again)