Gina Soden: Fine Art Photography
At the heart of Gina Soden’s photography is a preoccupation with abandoned structures and locations. Based in London, she travels widely to undisclosed sites throughout Europe and explores the boundaries of beauty, decay, nostalgia and neglect. The genesis of each piece is often the unique architectural character of each location, heightened by their painfully slow transformation after years of abandonment.
Art in Ruins
Rather than taking a documentary approach, Soden breathes a sense of life into the scenes, hinting at narrative with studied compositions. Characteristically each image has a distinctly painterly aesthetic, side stepping the tendency that photography has for observational and distanced looking.
Soden’s approach is lyrical and directs the viewer to explore the concepts of time and memory. The compositions feature derelict asylums, long since closed schools, ex-military compounds and famous city power stations in various stages of decay. The results are striking and poignant, at once both edgy in their contemporary aesthetic and nostalgic in their ruinous beauty.
The work is underscored by the potential controversy of gaining unlicensed access to the out of bounds areas. Every image is a product of a journey, referring both to the physical demands of gaining entry and to the passing of time which is evident in the abandoned locations. Like the Romantic poets before her, Soden offers room to reflect on more romantic notions of beauty and a sense of calmness despite collapse and structural devastation.
Exhibition and Award Overview
In 2016 works from the Palac and Emergence series were selected by Eleven Gallery to display at the second edition of the International art fair, Photo London held at Somerset House in May. At the Other Art Fair she was selected to present new works from Incremento series and released the limited edition print series Kaleidoscope. She won The Secret Art Prize in August with her piece Les Histoires.
In 2015 Soden exhibited her Palac series at London’s Eleven Gallery in a joint show with Natasha Kissell entitled Falls The Shadow. Key works from Retrogression were shown in the group exhibition Filling the Void at the K35 Gallery in Moscow. Mead Carney Gallery exhibited 2 works from her Palac series at the Art15 fair in London. She exhibited brand new works in the April and October editions of The Other Art Fair, with her work finding it’s way into special collections.
In 2014 Soden was awarded a place by the selection committee for both the April and October editions of The Other Art Fair. She won The Naylor Award (1st prize) for the Finest Photograph in The National Open Art Competition. She also featured in BBC1’s Inside Out which documented the competition – the largest of its kind in the UK
In 2013 Soden’s work was shown by The Fine Art Society at Pulse Art Fair in New York, The London Art Fair in Islington, Art13 Fair at Olympia and she was awarded Finest Work on Show at The Photo Art Fair in London. At the end of the year, Soden was awarded Emerging Artist of the Year in The National Open Art Competition.
Continued…
In 2012 Soden was a finalist in the Practical Photography Magazine Annual Award. She exhibited work as part of Signal 8 summer exhibition at The Space in Hong Kong.
In 2011 Soden was commissioned by The Cat Street Gallery in Hong Kong to produce work for Art Smile, a group show featuring a host of international artists to benefit the charity, Operation Smile. She exhibited in 100 Artists for Pride, in the Brighton Arts Festival and in Spring 2010 Soden was awarded photograph of the year by the Royal Windsor Photographic Society.