This is a follow-up article to the previous one about my Landings exhibition called Nature Escapes. As I mentioned previously, it was a hidden exhibition - I placed 4 pairs of my photographs (A6 size) somewhere in a specific area in Nottingham for people to find them. Like treasure. At the back of each photograph I left a description of the exhibition and my email address so people could contact me (if they wanted to). Read more about the description of the exhibition here: https://www.lucie-photography.com/post/week-9-10-landings-2020-my-experience In this article I would like to share my experience with exhibiting the photographs. I was concerned about a few things. My first concern was a possibility people would find my photos indecent and I could get in trouble. Another worry – people would be disrespectful towards the photos and would damage/paint over them. Also, since I was sharing an email address, I thought I might get some nasty emails. The last worry of mine was rather an inevitable future – loss of the photos due to human activity or weather conditions. I was not expecting much from it and was rather prepared to be disappointed, yet I hoped people would enjoy it. To my surprise they actually did! As I was putting up the second pair of my photographs, I was stopped by a couple asking what I was up to. I told them about the hidden exhibition, and they found it interesting and said they would look for the rest of photos (now having the advantage of knowing about one of the spots!). A few days after I received a few emails from people who found my photos at a variety of places. One email had a slightly sarcastic tone and pointed out nudity in the photos. But the rest were emails from people who really enjoyed what they found. It was very heart-warming to know people had fun! Every now and then I also went to check up on the photos to see if they were still there. And to find out whether I would see someone interacting with them. I was lucky enough to see a few people checking them out throughout the week. As far as I observed the reactions were good – the people seemed to be genuinely interested and excited about their finds. A few days after the first couple of photos disappeared from a tree behind a bench. Photographs which I placed on a footbridge were gone as well – the plastic cover was ripped off. However, a bizarre thing happened there! A day later one of the photographs appeared on the bridge again! I am not entirely sure what exactly was going on there but somebody put up the photo back. I will never find out whether someone found the photo on the floor and decided to place it back, or whether the person who had taken them at the first place decided to return one of them. Either way, I found it a nice act that someone made the effort to attach the photo back onto the bridge banister. However, a few days later the photo was gone again. Even though only 50% of my work survived, I found most people being very respectful with my photos.
I really enjoyed this experience, although, there is definitely some room for an improvement. In terms of the technical side I can do better – use the plastic covers more efficiently so water cannot get inside.
In terms of orientation it will be more helpful to place a map of the route on each photograph, not on the introduction list only.
It will also be more fun to create a hash tag and encourage people to take a selfie with their finds and share them on Instagram with me.
I am definitely looking forward to doing this again!