Exhibition showcases Too Good to Hide photography
Photographs by a University of Chester graduate and artist in residence that explore consumer culture and take inspiration from his mother’s work as a window dresser are on display in the city.
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The Too Good to Hide free exhibition of images, captured in Chester, Liverpool and Manchester by Tony Hayes, is running at The Rainbow Tea Rooms until the end of September.
Curated by Senior Lecturer in Art and Design at the University, Stephen Clarke, installed by Fine Art student Elijah Davidson and Photography student, Daniel Firth, with wall text by writer Hannah Harry, the title comes from one of the exhibited photographs.
In the series of images of shop windows, all of which contain self-portraits with Tony visible as a reflection, he looks to merge autobiography, family history and social commentary to raise questions about the individual’s sense of identity in an age of mass consumption.
Speaking about the inspiration from his mother, Tony said: “The pleasure of looking at a shop display, a well-wrapped gift or a carefully-set table has never left me.”
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Also influenced by Walter Benjamin’s Arcades Project and the self-portraits of Vivian Maier, Tony’s work seeks to ask: ‘Who are we? What are we looking for? How is our idea of self shaped by what we buy - or, more precisely, by what we are encouraged to buy? How do art, beauty and design relate to consumption and how does commerce affect our way of seeing? In a world where so many luxury products are made by those living in poverty, what do we really value?’
Tony, from Widnes, completed his undergraduate degree in Photography at the University of Chester after studying Photography at Mid Cheshire College. He started to shoot the series titled Window Dressing in 2019 when studying on the MA (Master of Art) Fine Art course at Chester. Currently he is undertaking an AA2A (Artist Access to Art Colleges) residency at the University and is a learning facilitator for the BA (Bachelor of Arts) Photography course.
The Rainbow Tea Rooms are in the centre of Chester, at 28 Bridge Street, CH1 1NQ, and are open from: 9.30am to 5pm weekdays, 9am to 6pm Saturdays and 10am to 5pm on Sundays.
For more on Tony’s work, please visit: https://www.tonyhayesphotography.co.uk/.