Liz Nicol received her degree in Creative Photography at Trent Polytechnic and Derby Lonsdale between 1975-78, since then she has had a string of one person shows around the World, from her open show in Barcelona 1977 to her latest offering over in New York opening on the 12th September 2006 and on view through November at the Washington Square East Galleries, featuring Photographs and Video artists from the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, under the heading “Crossing the Atlantic… uneasy spaces”.

Forging along the way an international reputation for thought provoking and initiative work, in her new book “Figureheads” published by the University of Plymouth Press, with a foreword by Chris Rodrigues, Liz Nicol has produced a series of 17 dramatic and stunning black and white prints, challenging our deeply held and in many way cherished perceptions and attitudes to the subject of figureheads in general, these all too rare survivors of a once magnificent race and creed of truly enigmatic beings, that over many centuries traversed the great oceans of the World, losing their spatial integrity and consciousness as they move over from a hostile and treacherous working life at sea, cleansed everyday with a douse of sea water, and the tang of salt on there lips, amid all it’s inevitable dangers and hardships, to finish there lives in a benign and transcendental environment on land, displayed in a sterile and air-conditioned museum gallery, with only the touch of a curators white gloved hand, has they check on past scars, without losing any of the allure and fascination. Liz Nicol has transposed these icons of a lost age and tradition back in to a spatial awareness, they look through the photographic print to a world of light and fresh air, to an atmosphere and feeling that was at one time was so very familiar and natural.

In the book Liz writes that “we can’t forget that these were objects carved by men” of all the figurative images created by the skill and artistry of man, none have been imbued more with a sense of “Humanity” than the Ships figurehead, they have transcended the boundary from a purely decorative function, to something quite different, Liz is right in that they are indeed carved by the hand of man, from the basic of natures materials wood and painted to life, once carved and place on the bow of a vessel, they begin to develop a unique aura and ambience, this sense is in many ways unique to Ships Figureheads, in the way they are seen and appreciated.

Each representation has been created using a double exposure technique, with one image manipulated over a second, once this photographic fusion is achieved the paper is exposed, and developer applied over the print with a sponge, the effect is to move the inanimate object in the form of the wooden and static ships figurehead in to a new and quite different environment, stimulating the mind as one looks through the images.

This is the first published work to deal with the subject of ships figureheads, without any historic narrative concerning the carvings previous history and individual heritage, several of the images used in this figurehead series were taken whilst on family holidays, with examples coming from the collection of celebrated merchant figureheads onboard the historic Clipper ship “Cutty Sark” at Greenwich in London, The Tresco collection down on the Isles of Scilly Cornwall, to the Musee de la Marine in Paris, and on to the Mystic Seaport Museum in the USA, likewise the landscapes range in variety from Derbyshire, Cornwall, The Farne Islands and France, each one chosen to enhance the dramatic appearance of the other, a remarkable insight into a fascinating subject, Liz Nicol’s “Figureheads” makes a welcome addition to the collection of anyone interested in the subject of contemporary British Photography and Ships Figureheads.

Published June 2006,
ISBN 1-84150-969-8
Paperback 243 x 287mm full colour