Crane Kalman Gallery
SHIHO KITO + LISA CREAGH
Founded in 2005, Crane Kalman Brighton is an independent British photography gallery specialising in exhibiting contemporary work. The gallery has been established to provide a platform to showcase the work of mostly up-and-coming, young British and UK-based photographers, as well as some International artists.
The gallery has held solo exhibitions by artists such as Polly Borland, Simon Roberts, Jane Hilton, Mary McCartney, Tim Flach and the late Michael Ormerod, as well as the work of international photographers such as Terry Richardson, Joseph Szabo, Karine Laval, George Tice, Abelardo Morell, Hugh Holland and Hans van der Meer.
We have collaborated on exhibitions with leading photographic specialists such as Michael Hoppen in the UK and Benrubi and M+B Gallery in the US, as well organisations such as the FotoRamblas Archive in Barcelona, Foto8 Magazine, the Brighton Photo Biennial and Photo Fringe as well as working with over 50 of the leading Photography Degree courses from across the UK’s Universities and Colleges on an annual showcase of the best graduate photography talent.
Having been based in the North Laine of Brighton for many years, the gallery now operates from a variety of differnt locations, both in Brighton and in London, as well as exhibiting at various annual art fairs in the UK and internationally.
Shiho Kito is Japanese photographer currently based in Gandhinagar, India, whose work also takes her to Japan and the UK where she teaches, writes and curates on photography. Having been awarded one-year fellowship from Government of Japan, she has based her practice at the National Institute of Design (NID) in India since January 2014.
‘pikari’ is an onomatopoeia in Japanese, which means ‘shining’ or ‘flashing’. The idea for pikari came from ‘star-navigation’, the ancient technique of Polynesian sailors who would find their location and direction guided only by the natural environment. Since leaving Japan, Shiho has used lights in cities all over the world to find her own ‘path’. Shiho’s photographs have been created using a large-format camera with 20-80 minute exposure time.
Lisa Creagh graduated from Goldsmiths in 1994, and more recently, with a Masters in Photography from Brighton University. Between 1997 and 2001 she lived and worked as an artist in New York, teaching digital imaging and curating exhibitions. Upon her return she founded The Brighton Photo Fringe in 2003, a network of photographers, still running in conjunction with the Brighton Photo Biennial.
Her current ongoing project, ‘The Instant Garden’ was begun in 2008 and is inspired by Dutch Flower paintings, in particular those by Rachel Ruysch (1664 – 1750) and the mathematical and geometric patterns of Islamic tapestries. The work has been widely exhibited and was recently awarded a development grant by The Arts Council of England. Creagh writes, “The Instant Garden is a new kind of photograph, one ‘made’ not ‘taken’, but no less beautiful for being artificially ‘natural’.
