About | Barry Falk

Artist’s Statement

My work seeks ways to explore and document how we understand the world around us on both a physical and psychological level. I capture spaces and places that reveal certain states of mind, from underground bunkers to the edges of the landscape, strewn with detritus. These spaces act as a metaphor for a fragile sense of self and relate to Freud’s concept of the unheimliche. A key aspect of my work is to document places that have undergone a traumatic experience of collective loss. I have focussed on locations in Eastern Europe: Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine, to explore how these places hold a sense of memory related to trauma and atrocity. My current project focuses upon the Jewish narrative, exploring how history can be both intensely remembered whilst memory of events are reframed or buried by collective amnesia.

‘Barry Falk’s photographs effectively convey the edginess and grubbiness and visual intrigue of ordinary spaces. He demonstrates how seeming emptiness can be evocative, and can have character and feeling. In the image shown here, the angled symmetry of the painted lines and the way our eye is pulled into the corner make us feel trapped and uncomfortable. I ask: where is the exit? My escape route? It is not a place I want to stay or linger. The grubby walls, the single fluorescent light and the ominous stains on the ground all add to making a rather unsettling space. And the resulting image is successful in recreating the physical emotion of actually being there.’ - Louise Marlborough: Brighton Fringe Open Text 2011

I am also a member of the MAP6 Collective:

http://www.map6.co.uk/

http://www.map6.co.uk/barry-falk-lithuania

https://www.instagram.com/map6collective/

Exhibitions

2018; Regency Town House, Brighton Photo Fringe – ‘Thresholds of the Mind, Documenting the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science’, Sept 29th – Oct 28th 2018
2017: m2 Gallery, Peckham - ’System of Absurdity’, Jan 22nd – March 8th 2017
2017: Milton Keynes Gallery – ‘MAP6 Collective The Milton Keynes Project’
2016: ONCA Gallery, Brighton – MAP6 Lithuania Project, Oct 1st – Oct 14th
2016: Safe Houses 1 & 2, Gallery Seen 15 – MAP6 HOME 2 Project, Peckham 24, London Photo Festival – May 19th – May 22nd
2016: Hasting Arts Forum – MAP6 HOME Project ‘Peripheral Homes’
2015: London Photo Festival – Retro Wall, May 2016
2014: Gallery 40 - ’Incidental Spaces’, 13th Oct – 26th Oct 2014
2014: DdA Factory, Cagliari, Italy – Group Exhibition, 1st July – 31st July 2014 - http://www.dda-factory.com/
2013: Royal Photographic Society: ‘RPS Print International 156′ – Touring Group Exhibition 20th July 2013 – 8th March 2014
2013: Moscow Art Project: ‘Discovering Borderlines’, April 2013 – Moscow, Russia – Group Exhibition
2013: Works On Paper, January 2013 – Science Museum, London, UK – Group Exhibition
2012: National Open Art Competition 2012, NOAC), Chichester Minerva Theatre/The Prince’s Trust, Hoxton, London, UK, October 2012 – Group Exhibition
2011: The Claremont, Hove Arts, Brighton Open Houses, Brighton, UK – Group Exhibition
2011: Artists Open Houses, Brighton
2010: Co-Op Building, Brighton Photo Fringe – Collective Show, October 2010

Artist’s Talks & Presentations:

2019 Photo Scratch, group presentation ~ The Photographers Gallery, London: https://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/whats-on/talks-and-events/photo-scratch
2019 Artist’s Talk ‘In Search of Amnesia’ ~ The Jewish Museum, London
2018 Artist’s Talk ‘In Search of Amnesia’ ~ The Wiener Library, London: https://www.wienerlibrary.co.uk/Whats-On?item=421
2018 Artist’s Talk ‘In Search of Amnesia’ ~ Jewish Geneaology Society, Rali Hall, Hove
2018 Artist’s Talk ‘Thresholds of the Mind’ ~ Colonnade House, Worthing
2018 Artist’s Talk ‘Thresholds of the Mind’ ~ Regency Town House, Hove
2016 MAP6 Collective Artist’s Talk ‘The Lithuania Project’ ~ ONCA Gallery, Brighton

Publications & On-Line Articles

2018: Art Noise AN Magazine ~ Issue #4 ’Featured Artist’
2017: Camera Infinita Magazine ~ Issue #4: “Where The Night Takes Us”, September 2017: http://www.camerainfinita.com/magazine-4/
2017: Fraction Magazine – Issue 98: http://www.fractionmagazine.com/98-1
2017: Elsewhere: A Journal of Place – MAP6 ‘Milton Keynes Project’: https://www.elsewhere-journal.com/blog/2017/4/29/map6-collective-the-milton-keynes-project
2017: (fothcoming) WIRED Magazine – ‘System of Absurdity / Soviet Bunker’
2017: Camera Infinita – ‘System of Absurdity’: http://www.camerainfinita.com/system-of-absurdity-2/
2017: AINT-BAD Magazine – MAP6 Collective ‘The Lithuania Project’: https://www.aint-bad.com/article/2017/01/13/map6-collective/
2016: European Prospects – ‘The Lithuania Project’ & ‘The Moscow Project’: http://europeanprospects.org/map6-collective & http://europeanprospects.org/artists/search/The%20MAP6%20Collective%20
2016: Bird-in-Flight – ‘System of Absurdity’: https://birdinflight.com/ru/vdohnovenie/fotoproect/20161129-barry-falk-system-absurdity.html
2016: FotoRoom – ‘System of Absurdity’: http://fotoroom.co/system-of-absurdity-barry-falk/
2016: BBC News In Pictures – ‘The Lithuania Project’: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-37539943
2016: Deep Baltic – ‘Capturing Middle Europe: The MAP6 Collective in Lithuania’: https://deepbaltic.com/2016/10/06/capturing-middle-europe-the-map6-collective-in-lithuania/
2016: Calvert Journal – ‘System of Absurdity’ Soviet Bunker Lithuania Project http://calvertjournal.com/photography/show/6287/soviet-bunker-lithuania-barry-falk-photography
2016: CALAMITA/A blog: ‘Travels Through An Island’ Croatia Project - http://calamitaa.tumblr.com/post/141606307451/barry-falk-travels-through-an-island
2016: Eyes Open! Magazine – ‘Centre of the Earth’ Iceland Project
2016: Creative Boom – ‘System of Absurdity’ Soviet Bunker Lithuania Project – http://www.creativeboom.com/photography/system-of-absurdity-photographer-explores-the-horrors-of-a-soviet-nuclear-bunker/
2015: Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science – ‘Experimental Portraits’ - http://www.sussex.ac.uk/sackler/resources#pretty
2015: Art Noise – https://artnoise.squarespace.com/barry-falk/
2015: Kwerfeldein Magazine article – ‘Heterotopias’, April 2015: http://kwerfeldein.de/2015/04/11/barry-falks-heterotopien/
2014: Stampsy Projects, ‘Incidental Spaces’: http://stampsy.com/stamp/6548 / ‘Experimental Portraits’: http://stampsy.com/user/10495/latest/6844 / Collections, ‘A Man Altered Landscape’: http://stampsy.com/a-man-altered-landscape
2014: Blue Tapes ‘Dreamhouse Books’ – 2013: http://www.blurb.co.uk/b/4879933-dreamhouse / http://www.blurb.co.uk/b/4877693-dreamhouse
2013: View Magazine, September 2013: http://viewphotomag.com/view-7/barry-falk/
2013: Photoworks Magazine Showcase – 2012 ‘Incidental Corners’: https://www.photoworks.org.uk/magazine/showcase/barry-falk
http://redsquaregallery.wordpress.com/2012/03/05/barry-falk-derelict-urban-spaces/
2013: Urban Photo Magazine ‘Conceptualising Car Parks’ - http://urbanphotomag.wordpress.com/2012/05/09/car-parks-barry-falk/
2013: Bare Hill Publishing, ‘State of the Arts’ – Photography & Digital’: http://www.barehillpublishing.com/wp/the-state-of-art/
2013: Urban Photo Publishing: ‘Refractions Contemporary Urban Photography Magazine – Feb 2013′: http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/504894?__r=137642 - urbanphotomag.wordpress.com/2011/10/08/five-questions-for…
www.nativepublications.com/
http://smellslikehumanabsence.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Barry%20Falk