Derek Man
“ What Do You See, Old Apple Tree? ”
2018Excellence Award
ARTIST STATEMENT
What Do You See, Old Apple Tree?
Since the 1950s, over half of traditional orchards in England have disappeared due to development, conversion of land to other uses, and intensive farming. The Orchard Project is dedicated solely to the creation, restoration and celebration of community orchards. Working in collaboration with the national charity, Man visited sites under restoration around London. At each location, he picked apples with the local volunteers, before creating pinhole cameras out of them at each location. Utilising these site-specific cameras, the work captures team members, volunteers and visitors, who are all integral to the survival of the orchards. By piecing together a narrative from the perspective of the preserved apple, the project seeks to highlight and reflect on the intertwined relationship between agriculture and community.
Entries form: Digital pigment prints mounted on board, digital projection Component works: 14 black and white prints, 6 small color prints, 3 minute digital video.
Selecting judge: Hiraki Sawa
This is a marvelous work that watches over apple orchards and the people looking after them from the apples' point of view. The work grapples with the hard reality that the recent accelerated pace of urbanization is causing apple orchards to disappear. The artist cut apples in half and inserted 35mm black-and-white negative film inside the apples, returned to the original orchard, and took photos with his apple-cameras. Because the process was non-destructive, after shooting, he ate the apples. Although the compositions are very simple, the work is imbued with multiple layers of perspective, classic camera obscura techniques, and motifs. Watching the video, Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree came to mind.
This work includes a making-of video that I haven't seen before in the past three years of entries.
PROFILE
Derek Man
He was born in Hong Kong in1988. Since 2005, he has lived in the UK and became a naturalized citizen in 2016. He received the master's degrees in Documentary Photography, University of South Wale (UK). He currently resides in London.
His work explores cultural identity, sense of community, how we form a sense of place, and what makes us feel like we belong.
Selected recent individual and group exhibition records
| 2018 | “What Do You See, Old Apple Tree?”, Deptford X Festival, London, UK |
| 2016 | “Royal Photographic Society International Print Exhibition 159”, Royal Albert Hall, London, UK |
| 2017 | “Culture Shifts: Global”, LOOK/17 Liverpool International Photography Festival, Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, UK |
| 2017 | “The Isle of Wight Analogy”, Ventnor Fringe Festival, Isle of Wight, UK |
| 2017 | “ESPY Photography Award”, elysiumgallery, Swansea, UK |
| 2017 | “Conceal/Reveal”, Photo Oxford, OVADA, Oxford, UK |
| 2017 | “Reclaiming Our Cultural Landscapes”, Reclaim Photography Festival, Light House Media Centre, Wolverhampton, UK |
| 2017 | “Cultivate: 7500 Stories”, 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning, London, UK |
| 2018 | “Young Portfolio 2017”, Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts, Japan |
| 2018 | “The London Open”(Digital Projection), Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK |
| 2018 | “Arctic Arts Festival”, Harstad, Norway |
| 2018 | “Verzasca FOTO Festival”, Sonogno, Switzerland |
| 2018 | “What Do You See, Old Apple Tree?”, Deptford X Festival, London, UK |
2018Excellence Award