Hive - Still Here
The 14th ANNUALGROUP PHOTOGRAPH
By Ann-Marie LeQuesne

Central Saint Martin's College of Art & Design King's Cross, London

Thursday, December 8th – 7.30pm

On November 11th, 1997, I explored group portraiture in a lecture/performance with 1st year Fine Art students (and invited non-students) at Central Saint Martins in Charing Cross Road. BOATS MAY NOT BE MOORED TO THIS NOTICE, became the 1st Annual Group Photograph.

For Hive – Still Here, we returned to Central Saint Martins in a new building, in King’s Cross. Participants were asked to count, in their first language, up to an assigned number whilst constantly moving within the group. "Weaving through sounds of chanting, reminiscent of rosaries and ritual, I walked until I had reached the end of my counting. We began with enthusiasm, which waned as each developed different patterns of numbering aloud. I remembered the experience of playing a game where others knew the rules and I did not. But that feeling did not last. After several rounds of hesitant patterning of steps and stammering voice I was interested to discover that I felt akin to my fellow participants; I no longer felt the embarrassment of moving closely and intentionally amongst strangers." - Christina Manning Lebek Assisted by Heather McDonough