Description
In April 2022, Rankin gave free rein to 40 graduate photographers whose final shows were disrupted due to COVID-19 an opportunity to showcase their work at a weekend long art fair, VISUAL NOISE. The first art fair dedicated solely to the nation’s emerging photographic talent.
Concept and project management by Public Offerings Ltd., the brief was to be creative within a 6ft x 6ft space at Rankin’s MARYLAND STUDIO for a weekend-long celebration, showing the public work they have not seen before. The response from the UK’s 2020 - 2022 graduating class of photographers (both BA and MA) was overwhelming.
The 40 chosen artists’ work is inspired by a diverse range of subjects - from personal experience, dysphoric approaches to contemporary culture, art history, and an unabashed love for art and fashion - and presented across mixed media from collage, textiles, editorial and film.
Rankin marked the occasion by taking over the upper floor of MARYLAND STUDIO to launch his first physical SWAG store, an experiential activation of his online shop rankinswag.com that launched in 2021 and a RANKIN LIVE opportunity. VISUAL NOISE also partnered with Legacy of War Foundation by hosting a print and t-shirt sale with all profits going to their partner organisations in Ukraine.