Since 1996, Sophy Rickett’s photographic work has explored the tension between the narrative tendencies and the abstract possibilities of photography. Ignoring many of the descriptive and representational capabilities of the camera, she has worked almost exclusively at night, building her work around the drama between what the photograph might reveal and what it might conceal. Rickett’s work goes against the recent trend in contemporary photography that has stressed everyday subject matter and a realist approach to the world, instead her photographs create spatial plays and ambiguities that often draw attention to the material nature of the photograph, as a picture plane. Paradoxically, perhaps, her photographs generate a powerful atmosphere and sense of place, one that is consistently infused with the desire, uncertainty and expectation associated with darkness and the unseen.
Sophy Rickett's work came to prominence in the late 90s, following her graduation from the Royal College of Art, London. She has exhibited widely nationally and internationally. Selected solo shows include Alberto Peola, Turin, Italy (2004), Nichido Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan (2003) and Centre pour L'Image Contemporain Saint-Gervais, Switzerland and Emily Tsingou, London (2005). Selected group exhibitions include Order and Chaos, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland; Flock, Spacex Gallery, Exeter and Where are We? Victoria and Albert Museum. In 2002, she was awarded the Arts Council Helen Chadwick Fellowship, Ruskin School, Oxford UK and in the same year the fellowship at the British School in Rome, Italy. She is represented by Emily Tsingou Gallery, London. She lives and works in London. For more information see www.emilytsingougallery.com