Root Down
Frankie Adams, Thaïs Verhasselt, and Victor Anton
'Root down' is a group exhibition by photographers Frankie Adams, Thaïs Verhasselt, and Victor Anton, part of the Photo Fringe festival 2024 at LANO Yoga. This show explores grounding through photography, delving into identity, connection and growth.
Victor Anton, a Spanish photographer and yoga student, uses root vegetables as metaphors for his journey of establishing new roots in the UK, reflecting personal growth and the search for grounding.
German-born Frankie Adams captures the fluidity of time and memory with abstract photography. Influenced by Italo Calvino, Craigie Horsefield and Uta Barth, her blurred water scenes and ‘skinscapes’ from wild swimming symbolise reflecting the essence of time and the search for balance.
Thaïs Verhasselt combines archival images of her mother with self-portraits mimicking yoga postures. Her work uses the metaphor of the 'motherland' to explore time, place, and identity, reflecting her background in education and commitment to social engagement.
'Root down'
Victor Anton
Victor Anton's journey into photography began in an unexpected place; the food manufacturing industry. Victor learned to see food beyond its surface, revealing its complexities and the intricate processes that bring it to our tables. Photography became his tool to capture these unseen details, creating a visual narrative that celebrates food in its rawest form.
Exhibiting for the Photo Fringe has allowed Victor to explore this year’s theme, "Common Ground," through a new lens. As both an artist and a student at Lano Yoga, Victor has been inspired by the grounding energy of this space. During his yoga practice, Victor reflected on how we connect to the earth and how our food embodies this connection.
In his current series, Victor focuses on root vegetables as symbols of grounding, resilience and nourishment. These vegetables, which draw their sustenance directly from the soil, stand out as pure, unprocessed embodiments of nature's bounty.
As a Spanish person now living in Portsmouth, Victor sees a parallel between his work and his own journey of planting new roots in a different place. Much like the root vegetables, Victor has connected with the land and community around him, recognizing both his personal growth and the universal need to find grounding wherever we are.
Victor's series invites viewers to appreciate the textures, colours, and organic beauty of root vegetables, exploring the stories that these humble ingredients hold. Just as yoga has helped him find balance and presence, his work invites us to reconnect with nature, the earth and the soil that sustains us.
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'Root down'
Thaïs Verhasselt
Thaïs Verhasselt’s artistic practice is rooted in the exploration of societal experiences, often manifested through participatory photographic installations and visual metaphors. She utilises a diverse range of mediums, including photogrammetry, stereographs, sculptures and performances, to delve into a philosophy of seeing and understanding the world. Her background in the education sector has deeply influenced her approach to art, fostering a commitment to social engagement and collaborative visual expression.
In her latest project, she draw upon archive images of her mother as a metaphor for 'mother land', creating self-portraits that explore my intricate relationship with time, memory and identity. This body of work reflects a personal journey through the landscapes of her past and present, examining how these intertwined histories shape her understanding of home and belonging.
As part of this year's Photo Fringe festival, the theme 'Common Ground' has prompted her to reflect on what sustains me through hardship and grief. Through this project, she seeks to uncover the elements that ground me, both physically and emotionally, in a world of shifting identities and evolving relationships.
Website
'Root down'
Frankie Adams
Frankie Adams’ work centers on exploring identity, looking at themes like fitting in, standing out, home, and belonging. Growing up in Germany as part of the forgotten generation of war children, her personal journey has been shaped by these experiences. Through photography, Frankie reflects on how her personal narrative intersects with broader societal narratives, revealing how different experiences and perceptions impact identity.
Her understanding has grown through reading and research, with one key book being ‘If On A Winter's Night A Traveler’ by Italo Calvino. This novel plays with structure, not following a typical beginning-to-end format, which she connects to how life can change suddenly, knocking us off course. These unexpected twists often require us to regain our balance and find a sense of grounding.
In her artistic practice, Frankie works with both analogue and digital photography, drawing inspiration from artists like Milagros de la Torre, Margaret Iverson, Anna Fox, and Karen Knorr. Frankie believes that grounding oneself is a deeply personal experience, shaped by individual perceptions.
For the project ‘Root down’, she is influenced by Craigie Horsfield’s idea of "Slow Time," where the past and present are intertwined, shaping how we experience life. Also by Uta Barth’s work, especially her approach to challenging how we see things by playing with focus and light, encouraging viewers to rethink their perceptions.
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10 Elm Grove
Portsmouth
PO5 1JG
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11–13 October
Friday 19:30–21:30
Saturday 15:00–19:00
Sunday 12:00–15:00