Friday 12th August marks the opening night for this years Margate Photofest. With the theme ‘Organic‘ eight different locations shall be exhibiting an eclectic range of photographic art, by a diverse range of artists. Chosen to curate one of these spaces, I have gathered five artists to exhibit at HKD, The Trace. Concerned with remembrance, time and the process of doing, David Blackmore’s project records the burial of a disposable camera, with the aim of one day retrieving it. Genevieve Rudd uses paint to manipulate the documentation of her Grandmother’s dementia, whilst Kate Elliott presents a project derived from a family archive, which was discovered in a skip in Belsize Park. Causing general havoc throughout the weekend, James Hodgson shall be performing a selection of live art performances.
I shall be exhibiting my newest collection: The Souvenir Museum.
“…God bless you all. From your loving son, David”
In 1944 David wrote twenty-one letters to his mother and father. After a fire at the family home a neighbour discovered them in his mother’s bedside table.
When Alice was Fourteen years old she decided to cut her hair. She had been a child for far too long. She gave the lock of hair to Polly, her closest companion who kept it in her jewellery box until her death in 2005.
Brother and sister, oh how they loved to play! They would always have the memory of that summer. They would always have the memory of Papa.
So intriguing is the trace of people that they perform for me the stories of the past, presenting fictional histories for one to discover.
Samantha Cawson 
