Rethinking Folklore: In Conversation with Alys Tomlinson

The Centre for Fashion Curation (UAL) is hosting a talk by acclaimed photographer Alys Tomlinson, who - through her body of work ‘Gli Isolani’ (The Islanders) - will open up about her research, process and approach to documenting these islanders’ costumes and rituals.

“Over two years, I photographed locals dressed in costumes inspired by paganism, fables and folklore. Working on analogue film with a large format plate camera, the images evoke a timeless quality and invite us to enter a haunting world of good and evil, the sacred and profane. Many of the portraits appear as characters we may have encountered in our own imagination, as boundaries between fiction and reality become blurred.

The series reflects the importance of community and togetherness in an increasingly discordant world. In maintaining these traditions passed down through generations, the images capture some of the mystery and atavism of these deep-rooted cultural rituals and beliefs” - Alys Tomlinson.

This event is a response to the Making More Mischief: Folk Costume exhibition at London College of Fashion, UAL. The event is organised by Dr Flavia Loscialpo, Cultural and Historical Studies Department, London College of Fashion (LCF, UAL), with the support of the Centre for Fashion Curation, UAL. It is open to the UAL community, current students, practitioners and the broader public.

The talk is followed by a Q&A, moderated by Dr Flavia Loscialpo (LCF) and Mellany Robinson (LCF).

This event is free and open to all, please register to attend.

Alys Tomlinson (b. 1975) is an award-winning and widely exhibited British photographer, living and working in London. She studied photography at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and completed a MA in Anthropology at SOAS, the University of London, which ties in with her long-term, personal interest in faith and pilgrimage. Her body of work ‘Ex-Voto’ (2016-2018), which gained great acclaim, explored Christian pilgrimage sites in Lourdes (France), Ballyvourney (Ireland) and Grabarka (Poland), with the still life photos, the portraits and the landscapes evoking the spiritual life and mysticism of these places. In 2020, Alys won the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize with her body of work ‘Lost Summer’, which began during the Covid lockdown. Not being able to travel to work on existing projects, Alys photographed the teenage children of local friends from the surrounding area. The portraits show these young adults dressed and ready to attend their proms which were cancelled because of the pandemic. Instead of the usual setting of the school or hotel halls, the portraits were taken in their gardens and backyards in North London. The prom portraits capture the poignancy of a lost summer for teenagers who were unable to sit their school exams or mark this significant step in growing up and leaving school.

Alys’s projects, which are often research-led, drawn on the relationship between people and place, exploring themes of environment, belonging, and identity . In particular, her project 'Gli Isolani' (The Islanders) published by GOST books in 2022, immerses viewers in the traditions, rituals and cultural identities across islands of the Venetian lagoon, Sicily and Sardinia. Photographed amongst crumbling stone, dramatic rocks and rural fields, the portraits capture traditional costumes and masks worn during festivities and celebrations on these islands.

Alys’s first documentary feature film ‘Mother Vera’ (co-directed with Cécile Embleton) was inspired by a portrait of an Orthodox nun made for the ‘Ex-Voto’ series. The film will be shown in international film festivals in 2024, with the world premiere taking place at Visions du Réel. alystomlinson.co.uk

Arriving by public transport

If you are arriving via Stratford Station, please follow the PURPLE ROUTE and walk towards the London Aquatics Centre and when you reach Sadler’s Wells on your right, turn right onto the public realm (Sadler’s Wells is still on the right-hand side) towards our East Bank campus.

If you are arriving from Stratford International, please follow the BLUE ROUTE and then merge onto the PURPLE ROUTE towards the London Aquatics Centre and when you reach Sadler’s Wells on your right, turn right along the public realm (Sadler’s Wells is still on the right-hand side) towards our East Bank campus.

If you are arriving from Hackney Wick, please follow the RED ROUTE down Carpenter’s Road, crossing Carpenter’s Road Lock and then over Tallow Bridge which leads directly onto LCF UAL’s waterfront entrance on the mezzanine level.

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