Melanie King: On leaning into collaboration
In this episode, we talk with Melanie King about leaning into collaboration. She talks about her transition from research-informed practice to practice-informed research. She also explores the collaborative nature of sustainable photography and how she has built her own network within the community of researchers and practitioners. Throughout, she comments on her journey of becoming a sustainable photographer, gaining greater confidence in these methods.
What does photography ethics mean to Melanie?
“The first word that jumped into my mind was care. So, I think it makes me think does my artwork, does my photography, cause harm to anyone? Does it cause harm to the environment? Is there a way that my practice or my work can contribute to the care of others, to the care of the environment? … Just to make sure that the work that we’re doing does not cause harm in any way.” (29:48)
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Melanie King is a working class artist and curator, originally from Manchester, UK. She is now based in Kent, UK.
She is co-Director of super/collider, Lumen Studios and founder of the London Alternative Photography Collective.
Melanie is Lecturer In Photography at Canterbury Christ Church University. She has recently completed her PhD at the Royal College of Art. She is the Interim Chair of the Royal College of Art, Working Class Collective. She is represented by the Land Art Agency.
You can see her work at https://www.melaniek.co.uk/