Please join us in the Bookshop to meet photographer Louise Carreck who is launching her self published photobook To Let.
To Let is a photographic project, exploring what has become a common sight throughout the UK – empty shops. But, these shops are different. They are well stocked. Some have staff and customers inside. The open door welcomes you in, but you cannot enter. These virtual or ‘fake’ shop facades, created using a mixture of CGI, photography and illustration, are applied to conceal the empty shop behind, in an attempt to attract new tenants and to clean up the appearance of the street. Authorities in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, installed virtual shop facades in the town centre and neighbouring areas as part of a clean up effort ahead of the 39th G8 summit being held at Lough Erne Resort.
Travelling to villages, towns and cities, such as Boscombe in the south of England, Glasgow in Scotland and Bushmills in Northern Ireland, Louise Carreck has discovered a range of virtual shop facades, including hairdressers, antique shops, delicatessens and pubs. You can visit the same coffee shop in Cheltenham and Belfast, and the same bookshop in Chatham and Dungannon.
The book opens with an introduction by writer and architect Douglas Murphy, whose books include ‘The Architecture of Failure’ and ‘Last Futures’.
Louise Carreck graduated from the Royal College of Art with a MA in Photography in 2013, and works in London. Carreck was awarded the runner up prize for the Bar Tur Photobook Award in association with the Photographers’ Gallery (December 2014), and has exhibited her work at Sarah Myerscough Fine Art, Michael Hoppen Splinter Photography Fair and the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.
Thu 13 Dec, 18.00 - 20.00, Bookshop.
Free event, no Booking.
