Johannesburg

STEVENSON is pleased to present Everything is Everything, Jo Ractliffe's third solo show with the gallery.

The exhibition, which comprises previously unpublished images spanning about 25 years, explores the idea of the photograph 'without purpose', unhinged from a specific project or body of work. In the words of the artist:

Such a photograph might be one taken for no reason other than to expose the remaining frames in a roll of film after a photographic shoot, or to test the workings of a newly acquired camera. Or it might manifest itself spontaneously, by chance, while you’re on your way looking towards something else. In this way, a photograph without purpose might be seen as one that occurs through happenstance, rather than intentionality. But a photograph without purpose might also be one that asserts its own raison d’être, refusing to comply with the narrative or conceptual intentions of the larger body of work.

Reflecting the fluid nature of such images, Everything is Everything presents photographs produced with a wide range of film cameras including professional medium format, plastic toy and 35mm 'point-and-shoot' cameras, as well as a Nokia cell phone and 35mm digital camera.

Special thanks to the Centre for Curating the Archive at UCT for the award of a Fellowship in 2014 during which this project was conceptualised.

The exhibition will take place in the gallery's fifth floor space, and will open on Thursday 18 May, 6 to 8pm. Ractliffe will give a walkabout of the exhibition on Thursday 18 May at 1pm. Entrance is free and all are welcome.