This event is part of the CONNECT strand in our new autumn/winter programme;
DEVELOP - MAKE - CONNECT - SHOW.
Chaired by Chaired by Dr. Bex Lewis, Senior Lecturer in Digital Marketing at Manchester Metropolitan University, photographic artists Natasha Caruana and Sarah Maple explore the effect of online trolling on the individual and the artist.
About
Natasha Caruana is no stranger to online criticism. Her ethically charged performative processes wrestle with the delicate balance of love and hate, calling into question widely held ideals of morality and our mediated perceptions of betrayal. In this talk Natasha will discuss the 'online troll' from both sides of the screen - from those who champion the 'troll' as a dark critic of the technological age, transforming online antagonism into an art form in its own right, to those who have confronted their trolls in an act of defiance, driven by the desire to understand these impersonal attackers.
Natasha will speak about her project Married Man and reflect on the online reception of this work, questioning the value of her own online criticism and where it falls in terms of a mode of photographic engagement. Natasha will reveal how, through personal experience, she and other artists have been able to capture and utilise their online criticism, taking back control and empowering themselves and others.
Through her conversation with a second female artist, Sarah Maple, Natasha will highlight the diverse effects of trolling on the artist and the individual. Together they hope to unpick some of the repercussions of instant, remote online feedback, focusing on the particular experience of female artists and the way this plays into the creative process.
Sarah Maple
Sarah Maple completed a BA in Fine Art from Kingston University in 2007 and in the same year won the 4 New Sensations award for emerging artists, run by The Saatchi Gallery. Sarah’s artwork, film and performances have been exhibited internationally at galleries and institutions including Tate Britain, The New Art Exchange and Golden Thread Gallery.
Sarah's work has been the subject of documentaries for Sky Arts, ARTE and VPRO. She has also been invited to speak for Amnesty International, as well as events at Oxford, Birmingham and Warwick universities, and the LSE. Sarah has worked collaboratively on film projects with Nick Knight and the Southbank Centre and her work has also been included in publications by the Whitechapel Gallery, Phaidon and Gestalten.
In 2015 she released her first book You Could Have Done This, a hardback art book of selected works with contributions from Beverley Knowles (curator and writer), Margaret Harrison (artist), Oreet Ashery (artist) and Anne Swartz (professor Art History).
Natasha Caruana
'Caruana belongs to a new generation of documentarians who are stretching and expanding the notion of what it is to be a photographer.' – Tim Clark, a-n
Natasha Caruana is a photographic artist living and working in London. She has an MA in Photography from the Royal College of Art, London and is a Senior Lecturer of Photography at the University for the Creative Arts, Farnham, UK. In 2014 Caruana was named as the winner of the prestigious BMW Artist in Residence Award at musée Nicéphore Niépce, France. The award led to solo shows at Les Rencontres d’Arles and Paris Photo and the monograph Coup de Foudre.
Caruana’s art practice is grounded in research concerned with narratives of love, betrayal and fantasy. Significant to all Caruana’s work is the questioning of how today’s technology is impacting relationships. Her series Married Man documents love and life of the everyday and her later work Fairytale for Sale explores the strange ritual of newlyweds blocking out their faces in online adverts. Her work is created drawing from archives, the Internet and personal narratives.
Her work was nominated for the 2014 Foam Paul Huf Award, shortlisted and the Deutsche Bank Pyramid prize in 2008 and for the National Magazine Awards in 2007. Caruana has been named as the one to watch in the Royal Photographic Society Journal and selected by the Humble Arts Foundation as one of 18 leading female art photographers currently working in the UK.
Dr. Bex Lewis
Dr Bex Lewis is passionate about helping people engage with the digital world in a positive way, where she has 19+ years of experience. Trained as a mass communications historian, writing the original history of Keep Calm and Carry On, she is Senior Lecturer in Digital Marketing at Manchester Metropolitan University, and Visiting Research Fellow at St John’s College, Durham University, with a particular interest in digital culture, and how this affects the third sector, especially faith organisations, voluntary organisations, and government behavioural campaigns. She is Director of social media consultancy Digital Fingerprint, and is author of ‘Raising Children in a Digital Age’ (Lion Hudson, 2014), which has been featured on The One Show, BBC News, Steve Wright in the Afternoon, and in the Daily Telegraph, The Church Times, and in many other publications.
When
This event starts at 19:00 until 20:30. Doors open at 18:30.
Where
This event takes place at RISE Manchester, 231 Deansgate, M3 4EN. The venue is fully accessible.
Tickets
Please book your ticket using the links below. You need to be signed in to do so. Standard tickets £12.50. Redeye members £7.50, concessions £10.00.
Who is it for?
This event is open to all. It's suitable for anyone who is interested in how social media has transformed the way we think and how we present ourselves online, as well as for anyone seeking to deal with online criticism. Natasha will deliver a talk, followed by a discussion with another female artist (to be announced soon). The talk is followed by a panel discussion, chaired by Redeye's Jo Slack.
Image: Natasha Caruana