Melanie Jayne Sancho Taylor

Item Level

August 30th – September 21st, 2024

The catalogue is an essential tool for any archive, in making its contents findable and accessible. But how does one create the descriptions and metadata for photographic material that has endless manifestations, formal and narrative connections? Drawing on the evocative imagery from a recent section of her personal photographic archive, Melanie Jayne Sancho Taylor attempts to bring all these associations and inter-relationships to the surface, describing each image at ‘item level’ – the most detailed level of cataloguing hierarchy.  Photographs are playfully presented as a composite journey across the gallery space, enabling an unfolding set of experiences to be felt and considered. The inclusion of archival mechanisms for storing and display are integrated into the work, suggesting that order is not fixed, and that the material is in a constant state of being processed, organized, and sorted; meaning is always in flux. ‘Item Level’ presents a new approach to photographic archival description, discarding traditional text-based descriptions and exploring subjective, intuitive responses as an alternative.   _ Melanie Jayne Sancho Taylor works with installation strategies and text components to activate and display her extensive personal photographic archive. Within these images she investigates the transitory nature of memory, time, space and the function of the archive. Alongside Melanie’s practice, she has worked across the library/archive sector for over a decade and is founder of Your Photo Legacy. Item Level marks her first solo exhibition after a long maternity break. Image Details:  Compilation for Item Level (Moving through Times) 2006 – 2024, Archival Inkjet Print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag. 70x48cm. Edition of 5 + 2 AP.