Peter Fraser

Tate St Ives 

Peter Fraser - Untitled, Nazerli 2006

On a recent trip to Cornwall, I visited the Tate at St Ives as I had heard about an exhibition of Peter Fraser, a photographer I knew of, but had not really seen much of his work. 

This was my first trip to the Tate so I was looking forward to the visit as well as looking at some of Peters work. The exhibition included works from drawn from around 30 years of his work, including his latest work, 'A City In Mind 2012' and also I was glad to see work from 'Two Blue Buckets 1988', the work I had come across before. 

Peter Fraser - Two Blue buckets, Aberdare 1985

All of Peters work are still life. I love the way that he does not construct his photographs as in the normal way of still life photography, but rather he focuses on the normal everyday objects he finds. 

The photograph, Two Blue Buckets is a case in point, the contrast of the buckets against the dark flooring, the colour, light and shadows. The objects are ordinary but intriguing all the same. 

The title photograph of the plastic cup covered in cocktails sticks, was found when Peter was looking around an old Welsh church, fascinated him. Peter stated about the photograph, 'It stands out as an isolated symbol of human activity and presents the viewer with a mysteriously shaped object. made by man but also strangely otherworldly. 

Peter Fraser was born in Cardiff in 1953 and graduated from Manchester University in 1976 and in 1984 exhibited some of his work at the Arnolfini, Bristol alongside William Eggleston, a person that would greatly influence his later work and so cemented his belief in the possibilities of colour photography. 

I found this exhibition, both interesting and enlightening, how everyday objects, photographed in a certain way can challenge the mind and pose questions...........

http://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-st-ives