Photography Course Leader presents major solo show at Atkinson Gallery
03 September 2025
'Hedge, Coxley' by Jesse Alexander, from the series The Nymph and the Shepherd (2017)
Showcasing two decades of work, Jesse Alexander, Course Leader of Photography MA (Online), will present a major solo exhibition at the Atkinson Gallery in Street this September.
Titled Deformed Surfaces, Uncovering Somerset Landscapes, the exhibition brings together a wide range of Jesse’s projects and photographs, many of which have not been displayed side by side before. The collection reflects Jesse’s deep, ongoing connection to Somerset's landscapes, shaped by a lifelong relationship with rural environments and developed into a sustained, critical photographic practice. His work becomes a form of inquiry into place, perception, memory, and meaning.
Opening on 10 September and running until 10 October, the exhibition will be accompanied by an ‘in conversation’ event with Dr Tom Baugh, Head of Fine Art at Falmouth University, followed by a private view.
Speaking ahead of the opening, Jesse said: “It is a great privilege to have the opportunity to re-think and bring together this body of work. I am really looking forward to the ‘in conversation’ event with Dr. Tom Baugh, and it feels especially meaningful to be exhibiting in such close proximity to where much of the work has been made.”
In Jesse’s early works, viewers are taken into the interior of the limestone of Burrington Combe where the experience of time seems to slow beneath the surface. His most recent series, The Digging Season, explores the legacy of peat extraction on the Somerset Levels. Here, thousands of years of peat deposits have entombed unique archaeological artefacts and stored an archive of information about some of the region’s prehistoric settlers.
Elsewhere, Jesse turns his lens to the ordinary and overlooked - the everyday details that often escape notice. By questioning the clichés and stereotypes so often attached to visual representations of the countryside and rural life, his work highlights the transformations rural places undergo. Fields become housing estates, hedgerows disappear, and once-familiar trees fall and decay.
Jesse’s photography practice aims to challenge familiar images of the countryside, reflecting on place, memory, and time. Through quiet, carefully observed scenes, Deformed Surfaces invites us to consider how we truly come to know a place.
Visit the Atkinson Gallery website to find out more about the exhibition and private view.
Lead image: Hedge, Coxley from the series The Nymph and the Shepherd (2017)
