Wednesday 30 July 2014

dall'Esterno in Abertillery - more info






“dall’Esterno” is an exhibition of fine art photography from Eastern Europe that was curated by Zosia Krasnowolska and originally organised by the*kickplate*project in Naples, Italy in March 2014. It was our intention to present it to a wider audience and we welcome the opportunity to show it again, this time in Wales, in our former gallery. We would like to challenge stereotypes about Eastern Europeans that are prevalent in the West and common both in Italy and in the UK.

The title, “dall’Esterno”, literally means “from the outside”; however, it is also a game of words as the word “Est” means “East” in Italian.

The only generally established fact is that Eastern Europe is the Eastern part of the European continent. However, which countries belong to it is much more difficult to define. 

According to the Multilingual Thesaurus of the European Union, Eastern Europe includes: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine. According to CIA World Factbook, Eastern Europe covers Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, and Southeastern Europe covers Romania, Bulgaria and the Balkans.  

Within Eastern Europe itself there seems to be little consensus about its cultural definition and or even geographical borders. Many countries seen in the West as such would describe themselves rather as Central, Northern or Southern European, and it is as much a question of identity as cultural heritage and historical or geographical facts. 

In the West, however, it tends to be seen as a homogenous area, mostly a source of cheap domestic workers and the background of social, economic and political problems. This perception of Eastern Europe and its inhabitants stems from ignorance, often enforced by its sensationalist portrayal by the media. Eastern European artists are often overlooked and do not get the focus they deserve.

The aim of our exhibition is to show Eastern Europe, or what is seen as Eastern Europe, from a different perspective, that of fine art photography. We’re going to present seven artists: Migle Backovaite (Lithuania), Mariya Kozhanova (Kaliningrad), Sonia Firlej (Poland), Yulia Kazban (Russia & Ukraine), Marina Frolova (Ukraine), Alexandra Şoman (Romania) and Stanka Koleva (Bulgaria), who use a variety of photographic and printing techniques and represent a variety of styles. They have all participated in different photographic projects; some of them live in their countries of origin and some of them have moved to Western Europe; not all of them make their living as artists.

We hope that the exhibition will prompt our audience to reflect upon their ideas about geography and identity, theirs and their neighbours’.

8th August – 6th September 2014   

Tuesday-Saturday 10.30-6

The Kickplate Gallery, 26 Church Street, Abertillery 




Thursday 24 July 2014

coming soon!

We are happy to say that "dall'Esterno" will get another run in Abertillery.

Between the 8th of August and the 6th of Sept we'll be occupying our old gallery - the now Kickplate Gallery



Sunday 6 July 2014

our first birthday

Today marks the anniversary of the opening of our first exhibition, Visitors, and the beginning of this project. we'd like to thank all the artists who have worked with us, all 44 of you! and everyone who has supported us, our friends and visitors.


 
 Happy birthday to us and to you!