Faith Couch – FOR LIFE

A new solo exhibition by American photographer Faith Couch, exploring the memory landscape of Blackness and the folklore and magic that lives within it.

The Naughton Gallery is delighted to present a solo exhibition by American photographer Faith Couch (b. Durham, North Carolina, 1997). Couch’s work focuses on accessing the memory landscape of Blackness and the folklore and magic that lives within memories and archives created before her own practice began. Synthesising both archival and contemporary imagery, Couch creates discussion surrounding the lineage of Black people being observed and depicted. She examines the Black body’s place in contemporary photography and its ties to historical narratives of existence and a new future imagined and created by Black people. Through collaboration with members of her community, Couch uses photography as a revolutionary tool to activate our collective memory landscape and reimagine how love and intimacy exist in space.

The artist’s preoccupation with love – in all its forms – has led her to pursue the creation of her own cinematic universe using the medium of photography. Through concentrated research on films as a primary source for learning about culture, gestures, and ideology, Couch creates images that look as if they were film stills. In her cinematic universe, the observation of familial, agape, and romantic love takes place in different spaces ranging from a movie theatre, a basketball court, a dining room, bathrooms, parks, restaurants, and so on. The magic is activated in these mundane spaces because of who occupies them and how they occupy them.

Opening Reception: Wednesday 25 October, 6pm-8pm