Gina Glover's photographs deal with the monumental and emotional detritus of abandoned military bases, drawing upon Gina's own childhood memories and her personal sense of vulnerability in the face of threatened military force. 'Playgrounds of War' presents the aesthetics of past wars, avoided wars and possible wars.

As a child in the English Midlands in the 1950's Glover travelled by pony and trap to a deserted former secret WWII airbase, converted to a nuclear missile base in the 1960s. Three decades later she began photographing this site. Since beginning the project, Glover has travelled to collapsing bunkers along the Moray Firth and a secret underground bunker in the heart of Edinburgh and also explored missile targets in the Baltic States and in Germany. In accompanying her on her travels we begin to comprehend not only the massive destructive potential of these places and how they have succumbed to the rejuvenating corrosion of time, weather and nature.

Playgrounds of War illustrates Glover's changing photographic practice over more than two decades. These photographs range from harsh black and white toned pictures taken in the 1980's, some depicting a small child lost against foreboding concrete structures, to surreal-like colour pinhole photographs. In these, using long exposures and layered light, a clouded sky has the seeming capacity to dislodge massive concrete monuments. Glover's scanograms bring to the viewer amateur efforts in the archaeology of such places, presenting bits of bomber aircraft, war kit, shells, bottles, images and objects. These represent local enthusiasts' preoccupation with the memorabilia of war alongside Glover's own taxonomic arrangements and aesthetic and moral concerns.  

Gina Glover was born in London, England. She is a co-founder and Director of the Photofusion Photography Centre, London and a freelance photographic artist and lecturer. In 2008 Glover received the Royal Photographic Society's Hood Medal, and she has been twice winner of the Medical Research Council/Novartis/Daily Telegraph Visions of Science Award.

In 2010 her exhibition 'Liminal World' was shown at Hooper's Gallery in London and later in 2011 her work on the Baltics will be shown by the Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels in collaboration with the European Council.

A minigraph with an article by Geof Rayner, a social scientist working in health, accompanies the show.

EVENTS
Gallery Tour and Talk by the Artist Saturday June 11th
Gina gave an informal gallery tour and discussed the themes around the exhibition.

Artists Talk. Saturday 16th July.
Gina's talk was based on her own photographic practice and her experience as a Director of Photofusion Photography Centre which she co-founded in the early 1980's. She addressed these topics: submitting photographs to picture libraries, working with aid agencies, producing a portfolio for different audiences, exhibiting in galleries, making digital books and applying for grant funding. She also talked about her different art residences in hospitals and also her love of pinhole photography.

Portfolio Reviews - Saturday 16th July.
This was an opportunity to meet the artist and get comments on your work.

Cramond Gun Emplacement, 2009

Remains of Thor Nuclear Missile Base, 2007

From the series: 'Bottled In Time'

Artists Talk - Saturday 16th July

Gallery Tour and Talk by the Artist June 11th

The exhibition 'In-Situ'