Elliott Gallery is exited to present a display of:
Burnthouse Lane
by Michelle Sank
On view from 27th June 2024 in our Green Room
at Elliott Gallery | Tussen de Bogen 91 | Amsterdam
The Burnthouse Lane estate was first dreamt up by Exeter Council in the idealistic 1920s to rehouse impoverished people from the West Quarter slum. Designed along Garden City lines and purposely self-contained it was a place for working-class families to live. In the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher’s Right to Buy scheme meant that some of the properties became privately owned, but Burnt House Lane is still referred to as a council estate. The deprivation it was supposed to overcome has continued to haunt it, but the isolated nature of the estate and its intricate labyrinth of lanes, have also made for positives, such as a close-knit community and a sense of solidarity among the residents.
“Often considered a no-go area in the past, my experience has been completely different – it is one where I have been welcomed and embraced within the community. It is this positivity that I wanted to highlight. I have always been drawn to this area because of the way it embraces diversity and the individuality that emanates from this – both in the way people express themselves but also how this is reflected in the adornment of their properties which for the most part have identical fabric, but which are charged with a personal stamp in the gardens, in the windows and even in the wall faces - my use of strong colour and light accentuating this sense of celebration.”
- Michelle Sank
Coinciding with the official launch of her latest publication Burnthouse Lane, published by Dewi Lewis Publishing. The book and series are exploring this historic and diverse community of Burnthouse Lane, revealing a positive focus on the individuality of residents and their environments.
About Michelle Sank:
Michelle Sank is a renowned South African photographer who moved to the UK in the 1980s. She left her homeland feeling alienated by apartheid, but recently returned and is documenting the exciting changes she sees there.
Michelle has exhibited and published all over the world, including in the USA, Finland, Belgium, Germany, Canada, The Channel Islands, Mexico, Australia, Hong Kong and The Netherlands. She has won numerous awards and accolades including the category ‘Portrait of Britain’ by the British Journal of Photography in 2020. She was recently one of the finalists of the Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize 2024, and the winner in the Open Competition of the Sony World Photography Awards (Portraiture category) with her stunning portrait ‘Zenande, Sinawe, Zinathi and Buhle’, part of her latest series ‘Ballade’, a poetic homage to her birthplace, Cape Town.
We are very excited to be showing Ballade at Elliott Gallery, starting January 2025.
Please, contact us at info@elliott.gallery for press inquiries.