"Returning to this image during the current pandemic to produce an exclusive print edition for The Auction Collective, it takes on a new significance relevant to us all as we contend with personal grief, collective loss and all of the restrictions upon travel and social interaction that we once took for granted.
Throughout my body of work I regularly return to the themes of absence and presence, the shadows of people who were once there but are now long-gone, their traces left behind as markers of a negotiated relationship with our environment. Forming part of a series of work that I produced following my mother’s untimely death, this image is profoundly personal. It is as close to being a self-portrait at that moment in time as is possible without my being physically in the image. My footprints in the snow covering the deck of a ferry plying the icy water between Helsinki and Tallinn are proof of my presence on the journey, yet equally they allude to absence and invite the viewer’s gaze through the porthole and on to thoughts of a bigger picture.
Working almost exclusively during periods of inclement weather and focusing upon the constructed, grown or placed elements within a chosen location, my deliberately oneiric images seek to explore our sense of place. Highlighting a bigger picture - the implications and significance of contrived landscapes within the context of the existing natural environment - my practice champions both the mental and physical values of our surroundings." - Edward Hopley, July 2021
Accolades
Education: BA graduate of Manchester Metropolitan University.
Selected Group and Solo Exhibitions: Les Rencontres de la Photographie, Arles. Photo Art Fair, London, 2013. Association of Photographers Gallery, London, 2001.
Selected Awards: Royal Photographic Society International Print Awards, Selected, 2016. Florida Museum of Photographic Arts IPC, Finalist, 2012. Photography Open Salon, Arles, Finalist, 2012. Royal Photographic Society International Print Awards, Bronze Medal, 2003. Royal Photographic Society International Print Awards, Gold Medal, 2001.
edwardhopley.photodeck.com
@edhopley