by Marj Clayton

6 Feb – 2 Mar 2012

Private View: Monday 6 February, 18:30-21:00

Marj Clayton (born in Ontario, Canada, 1965) is a documentary photographer, who uses traditional black and white photographic techniques, and for this exhibition, progressive laser technology to produce her stunning projects. Her exhibition, Tea Time in Banjul, began in 2003 after being commissioned to take ‘stock’ images in the Gambia for an editor in the UK. She went there intending to document the lives of farmers and fishermen. After her first day she recalls switching her focus to her designated street-wise guide and his network of friends and family. She saw a survivor in him, in a place where unemployment was extremely high and life expectancy, at 55, was very short.

Yusepha, Marj’s first contact, was a ‘hustler’ or illegal guide. He was considered illegal because he did not pass the government’s official ‘guide’ exam. Hustlers are poor and have limited formal education, making an exam that concentrates on history and geography almost impossible to pass. Instead of providing traditional tours hustlers provide practical knowledge and give insight, advice and help visitors to navigate in their new surroundings. If the hustler is caught eking out his living, he risks beatings or prison.

Marj had the good fortune to spend time and converse with several hustlers. She came to gain some insight into their lives and an appreciation for their creativity, tenacity and resilience. ‘Tea Time in Banjul’ is a collection of black and white images that explores the personal lives of these marginalised people.

Marj Clayton’s work has been exhibited by The National Portrait Gallery, The Royal Photographic Society, National Geographic Society, Oxford House, The Photographers Gallery and Gallery 1885 in the UK and Definitely Superior, The Thunder Bay Art Gallery and The Pictograph Gallery in Canada. She has been short listed three times for The Royal Photographic Society Annual Print Competition, twice for the British Journal of Photography’s ‘Artist Assistant award’ and once for the ‘Jon Kobal Awards’.

Spending as much as 26 years on a project, Marj insists that commitment of time to a particular project is essential for its success. Adding this time dimension to her series gives a deeper understanding of the people, place and time. Marj’s work is about people, relationships, community and feeling: exposing a reality many people will never know.

Currently Marj is based in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

Marj will be running a darkroom course and conducting a gallery talk in April 2012, after returning from a photographic trip to Ghana.