To close our programme for this year’s Brighton Photo Fringe, we’re working with Sarah Faraday and Yujiang Wang to ask: could you give up a valued possession for a photograph?

Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th November. Phoenix Gallery. 11am to 5pm. Free Entry.

We’re inviting you to take part in the growing exhibition – bring something along to give up and you’ll receive a photograph of it from their swap shop.

Possessed will be setting up at the Phoenix Gallery on the weekend of 23rd/24th November. The exhibition space will show work by both artists and act as a participatory swap shop, offering photos in exchange for personal possessions. The photographic images will be displayed online and within the space. Objects bought along will also be photographed and added to the evolving exhibition.

Liberation, or painful process – you decide.

A panel discussion on the nature of our connection to possessions will also take place on Saturday 23rd November, 3pm (free entry). The panel discussion will be chaired by Miniclick Co-Curator Jim Stephenson and will include Sarah Faraday and two special guests…

Natalia Natuka

“I am an Inclusive Arts Practitioner living and working in Brighton. My practice involvesresearch, facilitation, collaboration and participation in visual and expressive arts. I am passionate about inclusion and have been working creatively with marginalised community groups for over 10 years.” 

Dr Julie Coultas

Julie is a Visiting Research Fellow in the Psychology Department at the University of Sussex. Her main research interest is conformity from an evolutionary perspective.  Her current research interests include cooperative behaviour, conformity, evolutionary social psychology, emotional intelligence, sexual selection/female choice, kinship and the evolution of religion. Current research includes empirical tests of Boyd and Richerson’s conformist transmission model, social influence and group size, and work on the emotions and adolescents.

Possessions and objects have a variety of roles, some of which are purely functional, others are deeply linked with our idea of self. What do these objects represent and say about us?

Using both photography and moving image, Sarah Faraday and Yujiang Wang explore the role of possessions within the context of their own lives, and the role of the photograph as significant archival document. Prompted by this year’s Liverpool International Photography Festival theme of ‘Identity’, Sarah and Yujiang embarked on a journey to explore the intimate link between possessions and the self. Through the process of giving up emotionally charged possessions, they explore the personal impact of these relinquishments.

Based in the UK, Yujiang and Sarah work with mixed media, painting, moving image and photography. They have recently exhibited at Liverpool International Photography Festival and Altrincham Arts Festival.

Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th November. Phoenix Gallery. 11am to 5pm. Free Entry.