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Amber Arts presents
‘PARIS DOGS, AMSTERDAM DOGS’
AMY COPEMAN

16th January – 27th February 2010
Private View: Sat 23rd Jan, 12-2pm

Ultimately this work is about companionship, the need to love, and be loved.

'Dogs are about the inescapable, contradictory story of relationships – co–constitutive relationships in which none of the partners pre–exist the relating, and the relating is never done once and for all'

Donna Haraway. Professor in the History of Consciousness Department, UC – Santa Cruz.

Over the course of two years whilst working full time at Edinburgh College of Art I visited Amsterdam and Paris many times, processing and hand printing my images after working hours. The result is highly contrasting series of people with their dogs as companions, the backgrounds filled with interesting details only found in the unique cities of Amsterdam and Paris which the foreground explores the relationship of the dog and the owner.

Each print is a hand printed colour C-type print which has been printed in the traditional way, not using any digital formatting or printing.

They are printed in series of 10 and so far a number have been bought for private collections.

There are some different sizes available – for more information please ask.

Amy Copeman Exhibition images

ARTIST STATEMENT:

Relationships are the fundamental themes in my photography work, exploring how we form relationships with beings or things other than other human beings. Working on the streets of European cities exploring the difference and similarities with people in different cultural settings who have relationships to the same beings, in my earlier work, Dogs.

I’m currently living in the Scottish Borders and taking inspiration from the natural beauty of the surrounding area exploring the relationships between people and their environment in smaller communities, rather than the large metropolitan European cities. In my new work I am specifically looking at they relationships some people form with trees, inspired by both the people I meet locally and the Wych Elm project I worked with the Botanical Gardens on during 2008 and 2009.

‘People need trees. They need to see leaves from their windows, to sit in green spaces, and to play in the shade. Trees draw people out from behind walls of brick and glass, and in coming together, neighbors forge relationships, nurture children, and build a sense of community.’

From a series of studies conducted by a University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) team.

www.amycopeman.co.uk

Please keep an eye on the gallery page for more information.