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Staff

Phil_Braham

Phil Braham

Lecturer

Tel: 01382 3852211
Email: p.j.c.braham@dundee.ac.uk
Office by studios 431 & 432, Level 4 Crawford Building,
DJCAD, 13 Perth Road DD1 4HT

Biography

I graduated from DJCAD in 1980, and completed a Postgraduate at the Royal Academy of Fine Art in Holland the following year. I undertook a further year of research as a visiting artist at the University of California at Los Angeles. I have had 20 solo exhibitions and contributed to numerous group exhibitions both nationally and internationally, and my paintings are held in many public and private collections. Awards include the prestigious RSA Guthrie Award, and most recently the RSA Morton Award for Lens Based Work for my photography. I develop themes that generate projects in both these disciplines, and part of the focus of my research is how these two art forms influence each other, and subsequently, how the viewer interprets them. 

Recent projects include “Keeping Time”, an extensive series of paintings, prints and photographs made over the last two years that depict the mirrored surface of water, with objects drifting into various constellations. Fragments of photographs and letters move among these, as mementos of a life passing. In “Suicide Notes” I visited the sites of suicide cases that were reported in the Scottish press, and made photographs of what would have been the final scenes in these lives. They are presented with deadpan text relating to the report, but the images have a haunting beauty that elevates them from the factual to the poetic. I have taught at every level of the undergraduate and postgraduate course, and currently teach on the Art, Philosophy and Contemporary Practice programme.

Research Projects

‘Keeping Time’ - 2007-9: 60 paintings, prints and photographs exploring the subtle changes of life unfolding, through a sequence of images of the surface of a river. Self-funded project in which I was the primary investigator. DJCAD Art and Media project; Artists’ Practice as Research

‘Suicide Notes’ 2008-9: 21 photographs relating to sites of reported suicides in Scotland over a one-year period. Self-funded project in which I was the primary investigator. DJCAD Art and Media project; Artists’ Practice as Research

‘Falling Shadows in Arcadia’ 2009-10: 9 staged photographs exploring themes of Eros and Thanitos at notorious dogging sites in Scotland. Royal Scottish Academy Morton Award (£5000) funding for 1 year, in which I was the primary investigator. DJCAD Art and Media project; Artists’ Practice as Research.

‘A Yemen Sketchbook’ 2010: 6 paintings based on landscape studies made in Yemen. Funded by the government of the Republic of Yemen; sum undisclosed but all associated costs were met. DJCAD Art and Media project; Artists’ Practice as Research.

Research Outputs

‘Still.’ 2011: Twenty paintings that explore the philosophical idea of “punctum” through narrative landscape painting.

‘Keeping Time’ 2007-9: 60 paintings, prints and photographs exploring the subtle changes of life unfolding, through a sequence of images of the surface of a river.

‘Suicide Notes’ 2008-9: 21 photographs relating to sites of reported suicides in Scotland over a one-year period.

‘Falling Shadows in Arcadia’ 2009-10: 9 staged photographs exploring themes of Eros and Thanitos at notorious dogging sites in Scotland.


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