The exhibition launches 8 March in London
BY GEORGIA DIMDORE-MILES, IMAGE BY ROMAN MANFREDI
Using film photography as a medium, Roman Manfredi explores intergenerational female masculinity through the structures of class and race within the British landscape. This extraordinary new solo exhibition by lens based artist Manfredi, co-curated by Ingrid Pollard, will be on show at Space Station Sixty-Five, 9 March – 3 June 2023.
No ordinary portrait show, Roman presents 41 framed photographs with an audio installation taken from interviews with the participants. The exhibition counters the lack of representation of British working class butch/stud lesbians within art and cultural spaces.
Roman Manfredi says: “This project doesn’t come from a place of theory, but rather a sense of everyday lived experience, moving away from the ‘I’ of identity politics and into a collective ‘We’ as a practice of involvement. It comes from a place of deep love and pride for my community, expressed through the viewfinder of my Hasselblad 500cm. Shooting on film as opposed to digital is an important part of the project. It’s a different way of taking up space, a physical, visceral space.
Many of the images go against conventional rules of composition. I wanted to make images that were carefully made and considered, yet still allowing room for ‘failure’, countering the rules of gender conformity that we so clearly defy. These images are a celebration. We stand before you inviting you to look back, to stand with us.”
Roman has been taking photographs since she was 16, for her “It was here that my first creative outlet was born. Photography seemed like an accessible creative medium for working class kids at that time. Since then, I’ve gathered moss, travelled, worked and come full circle. I use photography and film to learn about and become intimate with my participants and their surroundings.
My work explores concepts of identity through the everyday lived experience, seeking for creative ways to instigate dialogue. I lift something of past Dyke-dom and my own personal history and experiences. I am motivated by connective linkage and the need to contribute to archiving working class queer histories by working class artists.”
The exhibition will run through to 3 June at Space Station Sixty-Five in Kennington, London. The exhibition is free to visit every Wednesday – Saturday, 12–6PM. The opening night is 8 March from 6pm and anyone is welcome.
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