Live!

Egg Café, Newington (off Bold Street)
23rd November 2005 – 8th January 2006

Reviewed by Madeline Fuller

‘Live!’ is the latest exhibition of photography filling the walls at Liverpool’s Egg Café and presents a number of artists’ photographic interpretations of the theme ‘Live!’

Inspired by a small photography project about local rock band Day With Mary by Jo Derbyshire and Jo Gough, the exhibition presents a spectrum of what ‘Live!’ means to different people and how this is captured through the lens of a camera.

Jo Gough says: “What started out as an attempt to convey the energy and general rock and roll-ness of one of my favourite local bands has turned into an eclectic look at what ‘Live!’ means to other artists, some of whom are exhibited here.”

The exhibition has an international feel, portraying musicians and entertainers from all over the world. Elements of it also contain particularly poignant observations that are thought provoking and make statements about the society we live in. David J Colbran’s work particularly stood out in this respect with photographs from events across Liverpool such as the Liverpool Carnival and the Mathew Street Festival. In these he photographs spectators capturing the events on their mobile phones. He questions whether this represents the next step in world photography - are we all photo journalists now? Perhaps it simply confirms that photography as art in a strict sense remains intact - reinforcing a distinction.

Leon Jakeman’s ‘Bombscared’ presents images of Liverpool’s underground train stations and attempts to capture the fear and anxiety following the London bombings. ‘The Mexican’, ‘The Chilean’ and ‘The Indian’ are Arvinda Bawa’s images of dancers. Like several other pieces in the exhibition, they portray ‘Live!’ as movement and performance.

I did feel that there was manipulation of meaning in some pieces to justify why they belong in ‘Live!’. I am not taking ‘Live!’ literally when I say this, but viewing can become confusing when interpretation loosens. I felt that some photographs stood out as hanging in the wrong exhibition.

This is however an eclectic display of photography under the umbrella of ‘Live!’ - including many images that provoke emotion and argument.