Rhiannon Adam was born in Co. Cork, Ireland in the 80s. She studied Art and Design at Central Saint Martins before embracing Nabokov, banned books and nonsense poetry while studying English at the University of Cambridge. Adams is our next Instagram takeover on our account.
Much of her work is heavily influenced by issues encountered during her nomadic childhood spent sailing the world with her parents, and the lack of photographic evidence that exists from that period in her life. As a result, her long-term projects are narrative based, and focus on discourse relating to myth, loneliness, the concept of Utopia, and the intersection between fact and fiction. The results of these explorations are captured almost exclusively in ambient light, through the hazy abstraction of experimental methods, degrading Polaroid, and traditional colour negative film. Her exhibition work often adopts a multimedia approach, and makes use of archival materials to reframe received ideas.
Notable projects include Big Fence/Pitcairn Island, centred on the remote island community of Pitcairn in the South Pacific. Pitcairn measures just two miles by one mile and is home to just 42 British subjects, descendants from the Mutiny on the Bounty. A decade ago, the island’s romantic image was tarnished by a string of high profile sexual abuse trials resulting in the conviction of eight Pitcairn men. Adam’s project made its debut at Francesca Maffeo Gallery in Spring 2018 and is currently on show as part of The Photographers’ Gallery’s New Talent exhibition (until October 6th). It will also be shown at Hull International Photography Festival between October–November 2019, as well as Photo Vogue Festival in Milan in November 2019.
Outside of her own practice, Rhiannon can often be found teaching workshops or writing, often in connection to her anorak-like obsession with Polaroid. Her exhaustive resource on instant photography – Polaroid: The Missing Manual, The Complete Creative Guide is available from Thames and Hudson.
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For more from Rhiannon, you can visit her website here.
