Paintings by Harley Weir presents images made as a form of digression from the artists' traditional photographic practice. Known for her intimate and striking approach to portraiture, the images in Paintings attempt to erase from the frame her concerns with trust, power and permission that weigh upon the act of photographing others.
Presented as short, rhythmical sequences, Paintings moves across the page like a melody, linking rhythm, colour and form through surface studies made consistently throughout the last three years. Intended to be considered outside of the constraints of context and place, the images in Paintings attempt to exist at the threshold of photographic composition, while forming part of Weir's search for a 'pure' image. With each picture made according to a specific set of rules and criteria, Weir attempts to expunge herself from the act of image-making, and encounter photography as a immediate, indulging process.
These images are nevertheless underscored by a tension palpable throughout Weir’s output - the transgressing of surfaces and boundaries, the uneasy relationship between camera and subject, and the inevitable constraints of choice and power that hover around the frame of a photograph. In this sense, these images can be thought of as both a liberation from and a mirror to Weir’s diverse output in fashion, editorial and portraiture photography.
Harley Weir (1988, London) is a British photographer known for creating intimate images in both her personal work and acclaimed editorial and fashion career. Her first solo exhibition, Boundaries, opened at Foam in December. Her most recent book, Homes, a publication of images made during the dismantling of the Calais refugee camps, was published by Loose Joints in November 2016.