Artist Statement
The series Toeing The Line (A Photoworks Commission, 2000) portrays women and girls encountered during repeated walks in the seaside landscape of an English south-coast town (Eastbourne). None of the subjects were known to me prior to photographing them. The resulting portraits are a combination of my own memories and elements of the subjects’ lives revealed to me during the photographic process (often alluded to in the titles).
Inherent to the title Toeing The Line are both the notions of obedience and competition (as in athletes toeing the line before the race starts). By extension this work is an attempt to speak of the values of the middle-class, especially in relation to the lives of women. The images flutter between two opposite female representations: the repressed woman and her principles on one side and the free child on the other. Women’s handbags become containers of concerns and emotions, thus representing the female mind.
The work as a whole shows disregard for the subjects’ real age, adopting a more psychological notion of age akin to the idea of Russian dolls. It tries to articulate the tension between inner world and external reality. As well as exploring physical and psychological passage this series is also about geographical passage: the passage of women in the landscape and across territories.
Toeing The Line is available as a touring exhibition of 16 aluminium-mounted pieces, most in size 20X20 inches (51x51cm). (Three pieces come in a bigger size, please ask for more details).
Crossing the Line is a new body of work funded through an initial award from South East Arts (£4,500 – Oct 2002) and a further award from ACE South East (£4,150 – June 2004). This work has evolved from, and builds upon the visual strategies ofToeing The Line .
Realised on the English South East Coast and on the French Normandy Coast (Dieppe), Crossing the Line attempts to explore the apparent generation gap between elderly people and teenagers. The two generations are represented through portraits of strangers encountered during coastal walks. As with previous works this is an attempt to realise portraits with a universal feel by interacting and building a dialogue with members from my local community.
Older people of today belong to the last generation to have known the Second World War. This generation has fought for its nation and territory, whereas the young generation seemingly lives in a borderless world of corporate branding. An interplay between heroic nationalism and global cultural identity underpins the work. Through close-up details of the subjects clothing, body language and facial expressions I am hoping to highlight the culture and values of two apparently very distinct, often alien, groups of people. This juxtaposition is an attempt to say something about the world we come from and the one we are heading towards. Like the rest of my work, however, Crossing The Line is not topic-based. Rather, it is a loose, open-ended series of images, which will hopefully grant viewers with a certain freedom of interpretation.
The series is made of 20 to 24 images, which for exhibition purposes will be enlarged to a size of 30”X30” and flush – mounted behind plexi-glass. “Crossing the Line” will be shown in an exhibition tour throughout the UK and abroad from early 2006 onward. One of its first showing is due to be at Turner House with Ffotogallery (Cardiff).
Resume
Magali Nougarède, born Mantes la Jolie, France, 1969. gained a BA (Hons) in Photography from the University of Brighton in 1996. She is a UK based photographer and her work is exhibited and collected nationally and internationally. She combines her art practice with occasional editorial or commercial work, commissions and teaching. She regularly lectures on the Editorial Photography BA at the University of Brighton. She lives in Brighton with her partner, photographer Paul Reas.
The series Toeing the Line (2000) stems from a commission by Photoworks and portrays elderly women and young girls encountered in the English coastal town of Eastbourne. This series looks at physical, psychological and geographical passage in the lives of women. A new body of work, Crossing the Line, builds upon the visual strategies of Toeing the Line and explores the generation gap between teenagers and elderly people. This work is due to be exhibited in the UK and Europe from 2006 onward.
Magali’s work is represented by Rosenberg & Kaufman Fine Art, New York. In the past her work has been exhibited at Impressions Gallery, York (2003), Tom Blau Gallery, London (2004), Photofusion, London (2004), Blue Sky Gallery, Portland USA (2004), Rosenberg & Kaufman, New York (2004 – first US solo show). Publications include “Toeing The Line” (Photoworks, 2000), “Masquerade – Women’s Contemporary Portrait Photography” (IRIS / Ffotogallery, 2003). Her work has also featured in the following magazines or papers: Next Level, Source, The British Journal of Photography (cover), The Independent, Ryuko Tsushin (Japan), Art in America, Art Review (UK).
