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EJ Major is an artist based in London. Initially studying the social sciences at Edinburgh University Major went on to graduate from Nottingham Trent University with a First Class Honours degree in Photography. Additional study included MA courses in Film Studies by distance learning and an MFA Art Practice at Goldsmiths.
In talking about her work Major has asked the following questions: “Why do we tell stories? What stories are left to tell? How do we tell them? Why are the tools never adequate? What are the tools? How will I use them?” Her approach explores and interrogates the function of narrative, which she often uses to destabilize the photographic anchor and open up spaces of becoming in her work.
Working with both digital and analogue technologies Major is also interested in time and the staged index. The attributes of stillness and time understood in relation to the photograph and film (moving image) are shifting in the digital age. Fluidity and pause have become characteristics at large, rather than attributes of each medium per se. Major’s photographic pieces often involve performance and seek to challenge the veracity of the photographic portrait finding an authenticity in a notion of self-portraiture that involves acting.
In 2011 EJ Major won the Salon Photo Prize and was awarded a Solo Show at Matt Roberts Gallery. She held her first solo show at Street Level Photoworks in Glasgow 2008 in conjunction with Glasgow International Festival of Contemporary Visual Art. Playing and Reality, a retrospective of her major works over the last ten years will be showing at Forum fur Fotografie in Cologne from January 9th 2016. Also in January 2016 Major’s work will be featured in London Art Fair’s Photo50 exhibition Feminine Masculine curated by Federica Chiocchetti.
Major has also self-published a number of books and has been a member of Artists Book Co-operative since 2011. KALEID editions, who represent the most exciting ‘artists who do books’ across Europe, chose her recently published limited edition Marie Claire RIP and Jezebel for their 2015 program. As a result the V&A Museum’s National Art Library and the Oslo National Academy of the Arts Library acquired this. In 2012 Joachim Schmid selected Major’s self-published book ‘love is…’ for C/O Berlin Book Days.
Earlier this year Major’s work formed part of Liberties at Collyer Bristow Gallery London. Curated by Day and Gluckman this was an exhibition of contemporary art reflecting on 40 years since the sex discrimination act. Other selected group shows include: I Love You, Tenderpixel Gallery, London, Helsinki Photography Triennial, Helsinki City Art Museum, Finland, Format 2009 – Photocinema, International Photography Festival, Derby, ICY, Minnesota Centre for Photography, Minneapolis, USA, Domestic Encounters, PDNB Gallery, Dallas, USA, As serious as your life, Bildmuseet Umea, Sweden, Girl Parade, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney, Australia, 2nd International Fotofestival, Germany, The Emergence of The Digital Portrait, Clampart Gallery, New York.
Major’s work has been reviewed by Photomonitor, culture 24, 1000 Words magazine, re-title.com, Another Magazine, Magenta Magazine, Amelia’s Magazine and Modern Painters. She has been profiled in foam, Aesthetica Creative Works, European Photography, Fotograf Magazine CZ, The British Journal of Photography, Glasstire and ArtInvestor Magazine DE.
