‘A Hair’s Breadth of Time’: Photographs by Hamish King

Photographer Hamish King tells us about the thinking behind his exhibition, ‘A Hair’s Breadth of Time’, on show at the Art and Design Library until 26 February.

“…Man’s life lies all within this present, as ’twere but a hair’s breadth of time. As for the rest, the past is gone, the future yet unseen.”

Marcus Aurelius

The quote, from which the title of this exhibition is taken, seems to me to sum up something that philosophers, mystics and contemplatives having been telling us for millennia; that they key to happiness is living in the moment.

A photographer may or may not be much of a mystic, but we all know about that hair’s breadth of time, given that most of our work is done in about 1/125th of a second. The great Magnum photographer Elliott Erwitt once joked that he’d never known a project that took more than about 5 seconds to shoot.

More seriously, at its worst photography can be a barrier to seeing, but at its best it can help us cultivate ways of experiencing the world afresh. Apart from anything else, you need to be able to see what’s there in front of your lens, rather than what you want to be there or think is there.

Here, then, are a few hair’s breadths of time, when I hope I was focused enough (if you’ll pardon the pun) to see the possibilities in an ordinary scene.

Opening the Cage in the Art Library

A collection of photographs by Hamish King is on display in the Art Library until March 31.  The exhibition, which is titled Opening The Cage, takes its name from a poem by Scottish writer Edwin Morgan. Opening The Cage: 14 variations on 14 words, which is itself based on a quotation from the American composer John Cage: “I have nothing to say and I am saying it and that is poetry.”

Of the theme of the exhibition, Hamish King remarked: “Most photographers, most of the time, work on projects. They pick a subject or theme, and then set about the photography to produce a portfolio of pictures that illustrate or comment on the chosen topic. This exhibition is an attempt to make interesting photography without a subject, or to put it another way, to make visual poetry while having nothing to say. The photographs have no intended subject, theme, message, or narrative; there is no political, social or documentary purpose. The intention has simply been to create a set of pictures that are interesting purely because they show something amusing, unusual, striking or mysterious; or for their abstract, graphic qualities of colour, shape, tone and line; or for whatever metaphor they might contain.”

The exhibition will run in the Art Library, from Mar 4 -31.

’45’ – Photographs by Hamish King

John Peel commented that for a music lover there are only three important birthdays – 33, 45 and 78!

’45’ refers to the speed 7-inch singles are played at, and the age of photographer Hamish King. The photographs in the exhibition are square in format, which is also a reference to record covers.

Fine Art Library, 6th – 31st January 2011, free