Artist and photographer Cig Harvey is Holding the Blue for her first UK solo exhibition

Often highly orchestrated, Harvey’s early works created a fantasy version of her own life experiences. Using herself as a model, each image was self-referential and meticulously mapped out to include specific metaphors, symbols and content. As her work progressed, Harvey introduced increasing amounts of spontaneity and branched out to include other models, such as neighbours, her daughter and husband. In Harvey’s most recent work, which focuses on her hometown in Maine, mundane locations and events are depicted with strange colour combinations or unexplained light, which lend the images an unsettling air.

Heavy with implied narrative, each photograph is a vignette – the visual equivalent of a short story. Seemingly random images of people, places and things, when combined, suggest the passing of time and seasons. The subjects of Harvey’s photographs are usually partially concealed, whether it be through careful cropping, distance or her use of lighting – for example, a child behind a curtain, a woman obscured by the dappled light through a car window or a figure facing away from the camera into the sea. The symbols used throughout Harvey’s work suggest a complex jigsaw to be pieced together by the viewer.

Cig Harvey – Holding the Blue kicks off at Beetles + Huxley on 5 September and runs until 16 September 2017. Opening times are Monday to Saturday between 10.00am - 5.30pm. Admission is free.

Main image: Pomegranate seeds, Rockport, Maine, 2012 © Cig Harvey courtesy Beetles + Huxley Gallery