21-11-2009Theatre Sets by Ines Gennuso

This series of images by Edinburgh based artist and freelance photographer, Ines Gennuso, is from a project called “Theatre Sets”. Over the course of a year, Gennuso photographed a range of theatre sets across the UK – prior to performances – to explore the way artificial light with its reverberating colours imbues space with a surreal and atmospheric quality. Gennuso was drawn to the theatre as the subject for this project for the way it utilizes artificial light to transform the ordinary into something bold and dramatic, analogous to the way it shifts human emotions from everyday life to the theatre stage.

Gennuso methodically photographed all the theatre sets in the same way, maintaining the same perspective and a tight composition in all the images so as to use a typological approach to explore the spatial realm of theatre. Her art practice focuses on the blurring of theatre and its visual language into photography and it explores the aesthetic conventions and cultural references which define the idea of theatricality. All images © copyright of Ines Gennuso.

1. Looking for Nessie. Talking Heads Puppets. Design by Steve Ross.

2. Fugee. Lyceum Youth Theatre. Design by Xana Maclean and Paul Rodger.

3. The Wall. Borderline Theatre.

4. The Tempest. Strathclyde Theatre Group.

5. Testing the Echo. Out of Joint Theatre. Design by Paul Willis.

6. The Playboy of the Western World. Strathclyde Theatre Group.

7. Jason and the Argonauts. Visible Fictions. Design by Robin Peoples.

8. Great Expectations. Prime Productions. Design by Monika Nisbet.

9. First to Go. Benchtours. Design by Gordon Davidson.

10. Song From the Sea. Visible Fictions. Design by Caroline Grebbell.

About the Photographer
Ines Gennuso is an Edinburgh based artist and freelance photographer. Her art practice focuses on the blurring of theatre and its visual language into photography and it explores the aesthetic conventions and cultural references which define the idea of theatricality. As a freelance photographer she covers a wide range of commercial assignments, including working for theatre and dance productions. Her work has been exhibited at the Singapore International Photography Festival and at the multi-arts venue the Arches in Glasgow.