Introduction to W.W. Winter Photo Studio Resident Project: Greenhouse
The W.W. Winter Photo Studio is the oldest photo studios in the UK. Opened in about 1852, this photo studio has been located on Midland Road in Derby. At the beginning of its establishment, it was funded by Mr. Emmanuel Nicholas Charles, who employed Mr. Walter William Winter to operate, so the studio was named after Mr. Winter.
The time-honored Winter Photo Studio has been armed with the development and advancement of photographic technology, from glass dry plates to gas optical amplifiers, to digital photography and almost all experimental means between important stages. While staying in the photo studio, Debbie studied a variety of early-stage photography techniques and won a funding of £50,000 for the photo studio to sort out the film archives that have been retained for many years, including a large number of glass dry plates. Behind these cultural relics, there is a moving story. During the Second World War, the UK ran short of materials, especially glass plates. The Winter Photo Studio donated a large number of glass dry baseplates to Derby citizens as the building material for greenhouses to grow melons and fruits. After hearing this story, Debbie was deeply attracted by the photographic and social landscapes and their fascinating relationships with people's life. She was determined to rebuild such a greenhouse made of photographic baseplate. At the same time, Debbie also carried out extensive sorting and in-depth analysis of the portraits in the ancient baseplate, recruited Derby citizens who resembled the characters in history online, and created a series of portraits across time and space, which let viewers gain a penetrating aesthetic feeling by blurring in the historical timeline.Debbie Adele Cooper is a visual artist living in East Midlands, who is widely involved in both English and international art creation and curatorial work. At present, her practice focuses on the idea of social intervention and public participation, with photography, sound and lighting as the medium. In the past few years, she has been widely engaged in the archiving of archival images and oral history, and has drawn inspiration from those archives into her personal artistic creation. Her works involve digital means and simulations, and she attempts to create new conversations between the past and the present.
