PhotoHastings is offering its latest exhibition

Spokesman Gary Willis said: “This year, we extended our annual October festival into September to take part in Coastal Currents and coincide with the Turner Prize at Towner in Eastbourne. “With the generous support of St Andrews Mews, Hastings, we are showing individuals and groups throughout September and October, a great opportunity to promote contemporary photography. A full diary means a fortnightly cycle of exhibitions, titled Mews 1 to Mews 4. “We also stepped into new territory by presenting a morning of film shorts at The Electric Palace, organised by Jude Montague and Matt Armstrong, earlier in September. “Now in October we will also be showing for four weeks at Electro Studios Project Space and Hastings Arts Forum, as well as presenting five wonderful Photology talks at The Pig with Alexander Brattell. As ever more events slot in as the festival develops, check out www.phothastings.org “Of particular interest is the collective group show Here, not there in Mews 3 week, October 5-8 and October 12-15, 11am to 5pm.” It offers showcase of varied approaches, from observations, travel documentary, to contemporary discourse and installations with works by Dan Percy, Imogen Bloor, Neale Willis, Derek Cottrell and Gary Willis. “Using the theme of Here, not there, we have all come up with different, interesting interpretations while using the unique flow of the St Andrews Mews gallery space of seven interconnected rooms. “First up, in room 1, we have Imogen Bloor. Using the room’s decay and antique fireplace to full effect, it showcases photographs of loss, here, not there; details of her mother-in-law’s house, taken after she died in 2008. Imogen recalls she was complicated and memorable.” “We then follow some quiet music into room 2 where Derek Cottrell and Gary Willis have combined atmospheric, abstract and non-narrative photography to their love of jazz, specifically ECM Records.” Through a sari covered door Gary Willis visually assaults the senses with Indian Walks and other stories: “Photographs and photo sequences are packed in. If you’ve ever smelt the aromas or been deafened by the noise, perhaps these snaps will evoke some memories or transport you there if you’ve never been. Everywhere magic at every turn. And now it’s here, not there. “Rooms 4 and 5 brings us back home to modern life with Neale Willis reflecting on the conflict of expectations between what enters the machine and what leaves it. Neale’s work crosses a variety of mediums from sound and sculpture to image and video often bringing a twist to the mechanical or mundane. Heading back, through rooms 6 and 7, we discover Dan Percy’s collection of new work created especially for this show and indeed the rooms. Taken while renovating an empty house, his photographs of wall sockets and old landline telephone handsets are set eerily in these empty, undecorated rooms. Views captured of a place that now exists in a different form, recalling a time when we communicated very differently. We were physically tied to a place if we wanted to talk to someone who wasn't with us. “All welcome.”