Tower and Town, December 2018

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Arts Review

From Wiltshire Woods to the Cornish Coast, at The White Horse Gallery from 1st November to 1st December 2018. This Exhibition of Work by Hilary Stock is a photographic collection of images inspired by these two counties. Last summer, Hilary had a number of exhibitions in Cornwall, where there was considerable interest in her Wiltshire pieces of Savernake Forest, Westwoods, and her nearby home of Great Bedwyn. She is represented by the Harbour Gallery in Portscatho.

In an interview with Wiltshire Life magazine, Hilary talks about the inspiration behind the photographs, ‘my favourite season is autumn, when the trees drop their leaves and reveal, in their nakedness, the patterns of the forest’. Caught in the early hours of those crisp mornings, Hilary’s photographs are evocative of the calmness of trees, canal reflections and wooded areas in their most real and true state.

Black and white photography gives drama and atmosphere to a picture and allows the artist to work with positive and negative spaces. In these pictures of the Wiltshire Woods, the bare trees seem ghostly yet alive, still but quiet, loud yet silent. Studying the photos, you get a real sense that Hilary was totally alone but, as she explains, one morning, after waiting for the perfect shot, she turned around to discover she was being watched by a herd of deer – a truly special moment.

In contrast to the woodland shots, the pictures of Cornish boatyards are emblematic of busy seaside towns and harbours. Caught in the midday sun, these summer bleached coastlines, knotted bits of driftwood, nautical ropes, and cracked beach hut paint, are quintessentially Cornish. In contrast to the woodland shots, they present multiple images rather than one picture to one frame.

Hilary Stock’s collection is glorious. The mix of realism and storytelling is magical. There is always more to see on each viewing.

Gabriella Venua