JUSTIN COOMBES - HALCYON SONG
Paradise Row
3/9/2012 to 4/24/2012
Mon - Fri : 10 am - 6 pm Thurs: 10 am - 8pm Sat: 11am - 6pm
In his second solo show at the gallery, Justin Coombes presents 'Halcyon Song', a series of photo-text vignettes. A halcyon is a mythical bird, often identified as a kingfisher, said to charm the wind and waves into calm from its floating nest. Fusing the fantastical and the everyday, Coombes' colourful, large format, panoramic photographs show the point of view of a female kingfisher as she searches for nesting sites along the length of London's Regents Canal. The pictures are accompanied by short poems in the form of wall texts that capture the bird's observations on her quest and her place in the wider world. In one image, a Chinese woman gazes inscrutably from a bridge. Others show a girl and boy stealing coots' eggs at night, and the kingfisher spying her own reflection as she flies past a barge's reversing mirror.
St Matthews Hall
17 Hereford Street
London
E2 6EX