Many of our great artists have lived and worked by the seashore and Dr Geraldine Alexander, art historian and writer, chose four such artists to showcase in her film at the beginning of her talk on Fay Godwin. We discovered what they found so irresistible about the sea. As this talk was about Goodwin, this piece centres on her work and her dedication to the art of photography.
Fay Godwin said that when she was photographing the landscape she felt utterly privileged to be able to work in such a way. For her the sea added an extra dimension to that. She had always been a mountain person but having her cottage by the sea for twenty-five years she had really come to love the sea and the feeling of space which she carried around with her from place to place.
In the film shown she told us: “I don’t normally go out looking for things – I never know what I am going to find… I love the quirkiness. I always felt that my work had a documentary element but it is also personal. It is not only topographical but also has these overtones of metaphors and if I achieve that in a picture it is a picture I am really interested in. I don’t always know what the metaphor is when I am taking a picture.
“I spent an enormous time photographing at Dungeness in the mid 70s when the nuclear power station was being built. A lot of my pictures of Dungeness had an element of sheltering which I didn’t plan at the time but looking back at the pictures you can see the theme.
“As well as landscapes and the metaphysical I do have an interest in people and what they do. One of the very first people that I talked to at Dungeness was Derek Jarman. I was captivated by the garden.
“Sometimes it is hard to get the photo that I wanted. There is a crazy law that stated that if you were on a public right of way then you cannot stop and set up a tripod.”
The film gave us a good glimpse into the real person behind the camera.
Fay was not only a photographer: she was also a trail blazer and campaigned for photography to be recognised as an art-form in this country. The Tate Modern held its first photographic exhibition in 2003. This was the first major exhibition at the Tate dedicated solely to photography. It was the gallery’s acknowledgement for the first time that photography was indeed a key component of contemporary visual culture.
Geraldine talked about Fay’s publications, and the line-up of her collaborations was indeed stellar as she worked with great names including Ted Hughes, John Fowles and Simon Armitage.
Image Credits: Kt bruce .