DRS hosted photographer and artist Oliver Woods
We had Oliver Woods in the house. And yes, Anastasiya came through with some incredibly sharp questions that, shaped the conversation beautifully!
DRS crew had the pleasure of hosting Oliver Woods, an artist whose book “You Are My One And Only” is awaiting it’s release and I must say we should all be very excited!
As part of DRS collective, we initiate photographers and artists to come and share the work, the experience, and the stories behind it all. What makes them create — involve themselves in the world of sublime — and output their art into the world.
Oliver Woods is an artist with a rich background. He has been involved in almost every art medium possible. From education in Fine Art to being a producer for BBC Radio for 15 years.
This past Sunday, Oliver took us through a journey which has become his upcoming book, “You Are My One and Only”. A personal exploration of loss, grief, identity, and the ability to make sense of things that happen to us, when we yet cannot process them all.
DRS members not only were able to dive into the technical process behind the creation of a book. We furthermore had a chance to have a private conversation with Oliver, almost a confession-like retrospective tale, of his life and death of his siblings.
The quality and integrity that Oliver has put into this project has deeply impressed all of us and definitely has inspired our members to use art as almost a therapeutic activity.
It took Oliver almost 5 years to complete this project. As mentioned before, it was a personal process, which could not have been completed at any other time or any sooner. It’s the chronicle of his life, which had to be born through a dive into the past and been approached methodically.
Every page contains carefully chosen memories and takes the reader back to a particular moment. The images transcends you to a different time, into the world of a quiet grief. A house where a family existed their whole life and faced life’s challenges.
The high-quality photographic images, taken on a 4x5 film camera, have further proved that quality takes time. The process takes time! In the world of a high-speed output, artists have become squished out of their inspiration; however, chatting with Oliver has left a sense of care towards once art and journey behind the project.
He reminded DRS members that if you care about what you create, it will resonate!
Once more, congratulations to Oliver on his achievement and thank you for sharing your world with DRS members.
The evening wasn’t only about serious conversations though!
Discussions turned lively as we reviewed entries from the previous practical exercise with Mirrors. Really strong work across the board. Everyone brought something special. The diptych by Shaz inspired by Francis Bacon? Phenomenal.
Fully practical mirror effects from Tom.
Beautiful b&w experiment with reflecting light with a tiny mirror from Dan.
And the winner of this week’s vote was Tassia, with her conceptual photo below.
We have also reviewed Evan’s work, who brought captivating set of images from his trip to Iceland. That journey sparked a new direction for him and shaped ideas for the next DRS exhibition - Finding The Light. I promise you we still did a bit of cropping work — as per Diana Olifirova’s teachings.
So that’s that is it for all the updates.
DRS community keep an eye out — we’ll drop another practical tusk on the next meet up, similar to the Mirrors at the Barbican. And to everyone else — keep an eye for our next Substack.
A reminder! If you are a member of DRS and interested in being part of the exhibition — make sure you sign up for the “Finding The Light”. Otherwise, consider joining DRS if you love photography!
See you at the next one,
Anastasiya ❤️