Christina Kernohan: Gammel Butikken @ The Saint

LuckyMe Arts Collective began in 2002 with the aim of running a hip-hop group in a previously undiscovered location. Seven years down the line and it has grown into a global label for likeminded artists and musicians across the world. Amongst the collective is Christina Kernohan, freelance photographer and Glasgow School of Art graduate. Christina, who has exhibited in a variety of venues across the country and been short listed for a number of competitions, is currently showing Gammel Butikken in The Saint (44 St Stephen Street, Edinburgh).

The exhibition features photography from the artist’s recent journey to rural Sakrisøy, located deep within Norway’s Arctic Circle. Her focus was to capture one of the last remaining disused stores of the Lofoten isles from which the community would have purchased all that was necessary to survive in the land’s harsh living conditions. Despite its once pivotal role in island life the store now stands exposed to the elements, abandoned and dormant.

On initial impact Christina’s photos stimulate thoughts of decay and neglect. They speak of the discarded and the unwanted in the broken shelves and haphazard jumble of objects. The artist’s interest in everyday items found in the store evokes thoughts of a place haunted by the past, frozen in time until it eventually disappears. The pale light that pierces a number of the scenes captured develops a sense of the building’s vulnerability to the natural world. In this, Christina poses the question of survival of that which is manmade in the natural world.

In addressing the issue of abandonment, the exhibition also ties in with the notion of change. The inhabitants of the islands have progressed to find new and possibly easier ways of living. In this there is something positive. This hope is echoed throughout Christina’s photos, which speak of co-operation and community. The store acted as a retreat and centre for survival for many years and each photo pays respect to this. There is a sense of warmth in the old kettles, lanterns and wool that invites the viewer to imagine the building inhabited with workers and customers all taking refuge from the bitter conditions outside. The variety of colour captured by the photographer unveils the beauty to be explored in such a setting. The bright reds and blues seen in the old tins and peeling paint stand against decay- making their mark in a place crumbling with age. The subtle tones found in old appliances and fading paperwork create something both aesthetically pleasing and tangible to the viewer. Christina’s wide-angle shots encourage us to consider the world outside of the store- perhaps a place of danger and discomfort. Her close- up compositions, however, act as a relief from this in describing the intricate beauty and design she was able to find within the building.

In viewing the exhibition as a whole we are confronted with numerous thoughts and emotions that the images of abandonment invite us to feel. It acts as a porthole by looking into the past and telling a story. Although Christina presents the refuge as no longer necessary in modern life, she manages to convey the spirit of human survival and community that thrived even in the harshest of living conditions.