Anthony Luvera: Assembly - Brighton Biennial

On reading the photographer's supporting statement for 'Assembly' it is clear that Luvera works in collaboration with groups of people over a period of time, producing what he terms 'Assisted Self-Portraits'. His work is collaborative, providing technical and artistic support to his subjects as they work together, talk over issues, and move towards producing a final self-portrait that the subject feels best represents them. The sessions can take a number of weeks and Luvera makes use of digital medium format, voice recorders and disposable cameras. Luvera's projects have covered queer identity and I was hoping to get a glimpse of his Queer Brighton work at the Biennial but seemed to have missed it somehow.

The Assembly work deals with homelessness and all his portrait projects feed into his long term goal of making Assisted Self-Portraits that are collaborative 'exploring the tension between authorship (or artistic control) and participation, and the ethics involved in representing other people's lives.' Brighton Photo Fringe (2014).

Unfortunately a photo book fair was taking place in this exhibition space and the place was packed with people browsing the books. It wasn't possible to stand and view Luvera's work without feeling that I was in someones way.

There was a discussion amongst the group afterwards in relation to the way in which the portraits all look like they are posed in a similar way. Some of the students felt that Luvera still had too much artistic control over the subjects for the work to be truly participatory. I can see that whilst working with a photographer over a period of time, looking at portraits and other work, the group could form a consensus about how they think they should appear in a piece of photographic art. The group dynamic itself can influence thinking and outcomes. I can see where the 'tension' element comes into play as the whole process is changing the way the subjects view themselves and the end portrait could be wholly different from one taken at the start of the process.

Reference:

BFP14 (2014) Assembly Anthony Luvera.