Touch-Line: Fans, Sandy Park Stadium

“There’s this wonderful sense of theatre and performance where people transcend themselves.”

Michelle Sank’s interest in visual storytelling meant that she was naturally drawn to the theatricality and spectacle of rugby. For Sank, the colour and dynamism of the supporters, the mysterious emblems, the small details, all build into a unique drama.

Rugby as a performance complements Sank’s sense that photography is itself a type of theatre. The image becomes a space of performance, a stage where the subjects are able to present themselves to the camera.

“ I’m always looking for that moment when people… are they still giving what they think they should give, or are they giving something that’s just them? It’s a very fine line. Most people, when they see a camera, they take up a pose, the generic kind of thing. I’m looking for something beyond that. I’m looking for that spark.”

Object Summary

Accession Loan No.
18/2020/1
Collection Class
Photographs
Medium
digital C-Type photographic print on
Common Name
Touch-Line: Fans, Sandy Park Stadium
Simple Name
photograph
Period Classification
Modern (1945-)
Production Town
Exeter
Production County
Devon
Production Country
United Kingdom: England
Production Date
28/02/2015
Production Person Initials
Michelle
Production Person Surname
Sank
Production Year Low
Production Year High

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Touch-Line: Fans, Sandy Park Stadium