Sarah Porter

NATURAL BEAUTY EXHIBITION

LEEDS CITY MUSEUM

"This exhibition is a public exhibition, which runs from February to June. The exhibition is the end result to a photographic commission given to photographer Sara Porter who’s role it was to document some of the 800,000 specimens housed at the Discovery Centre, examining taxidermy, insects, eggs and skulls."

I feel that the exhibition was curated well, the space was big and images where all mounted upon the wall in various frame that are noted above, I felt that the way the work had been places gave you space and let you really inspect each individual piece. The work was categorised which help being able to really admire and understand each image. As you can see within the image above that i shot at the exhibition different images were framed and sized differently but all prints where bigger than A3 which gave you the opportunity to look closely at the small details within the images, most of the image were shot filling most of the frame where as others where centered and the negative space drew you in to looking at a shadow or small detail. All the image had either a clear glass frame or a black frame depending on the colours within the image itself.

I feel that this exhibition reaches to an audience between 18 onwards, i feel that some of the stuffed animals and images of bones may not be appropriate for a young child. I feel that people who admire animals, nature, textures and creative macro photography would be very fond and intrigued when viewing the exhibition. The photography has looked at all different aspects of chosen species, from admiring the wings of a butterfly to the wings of an owl. Admiring the beauty of the creatures and animals that may be over looked in everyday life. 

I feel that the exhibition is something new for the museum its rather quirky and not all of the work is family friendly i feel that it reaches out to a rather specific audience. After looking round the museum i found it was a family oriented museum and mostly exhibited work that was relevant to leeds city itself. I feel even though the museum is right within the centre of leeds the fact  that the exhibition its self is on the top floor, it is out of the way  so unless you are aware of the exhibition you aren't really going to find it. I feel it would be better on the bottom floor so the striking image would grab viewers attention as they entered the museum.