Clove Hitch | Tess foley
Clove Hitch
clove hitch | ˈkləʊv hɪtʃ | noun


Bi-Monthly!

On Being
@ The Island


Interview with Willie Franklin  & Sam Cashmore




On Being was an exhibition held at The Island from 15th to 19th April, featuring the work of ten recent alumni from the MA Photography course at UWE. I spoke to co-producers Willie and Sam about curation, resolution, and the social potential of photography.


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 Installation view of Glimmer by Dulcie Wagstaff
© Archie Byron
Weston Die Hard

A wander around Weston with photographer Archie Byron




Archie is a documentary photographer from Weston-Super-Mare. Over the past 5 years he has been producing work about his hometown, with a focus on representing marginalised areas and working-class people. I spoke with Archie about his practice and politics, his sense of belonging and compassion, and how he explores these themes through photography.

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© Tess Foley 
‘Auto’

Can introspective work be a part of a sociable practice?




The first time I entered a photography competition, I misread the requirement for a 2000 character biography as 2000 words. What I wrote in response was a sincere, navel-gazing attempt at a quarter-life autobiography. When I realised my mistake, I left it to stew in the back end of a folder. Not sure what use the world could have for such a bizarrely intense focus on my life.

I remain unsure, but in sharing this now, I aim at two things. Firstly, I want to embrace uncertainty in my practice. I want to loosen the requirements around what I share so that I might actually grow through the process.  

And secondly, I want to engage in a conversation around personal work, personal writing, and its place in art today. It was Tito Gonzalez Garcia, in conversation at the Bristol Photo Festival symposium, who first triggered the thought. It is a tendency of western artists, he said, to be so inward looking. I cannot, on my own, unpick the positive from the negative. Separate the vital from the indulgent. Or understand fully what the consequences are of sharing, and of holding back.

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If you have a thought, I would love to hear it. This blog is shaped around conversation, with this final section inviting an open-ended one. Maybe you reject the idea of policing whose lives are worthy of a platform at the outset. Fair enough. I am interested in every approach to the idea. I simply want to get involved in a conversation that I am sure is already unfolding.



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Editor’s Notes:

This blog is about making communication and conversation a consistent touchstone of my practice. 
As photographer/ writer/ artist/ lecturer Max Ferguson put it in a recent workshop I attended, it is about becoming an expert in what you love
Are you interested in being a part of the conversation? 
I am open to exploring all forms of conversation and collaboration. I am particularly interested in hearing from artists around the time that they are disseminating work, starting new projects, or otherwise experiencing shifts in their practice.











Contact via instagram @tesco.f or email foley.tess51@gmail.com
Concept / Design / Words © Tess Foley