Pixiq

As part of my terribly glamorous lifestyle, which yesterday included writing a story-telling workshop for a theatre company and doing my laundry, I also attended the opening of the Blacked Out exhibition, held in an old railway arch in south London.

The exhibition features the work of eight artists, all of whom explore the interplay of light in a blacked out, urban space. There’s everything from a mirrored tunnel to an installation that uses glow-sticks. But it was of course the photographs that grabbed my attention the most. Okay, no, it was the glow-sticks. I admit it. How could I resist a neon Minnie Mouse hairband?

Convulsion Compulsion, by Sally Butcher

However, I was drawn to Sally Butcher’s beautiful photographic prints that layered delicately lit different aspects of the female body. Their subtlety was almost unnerving, but I found myself captivated by their strange contrast of tension and ethereality. And this contrast was taken up a few notches by the prints being in black and white, and the strange lighting of the venue.

If you’re in or around London, and the London Bridge area in particular, it’s worth an hour of your time. (And not just to play with the glow-sticks.)

Blacked Out runs from 21 to 28 August, 13:00 to 18:30, at Arch 897, Holyrood Street, London, SE1 2EL.