John Riddy was invited by the Ruskin School of Art to produce a new body of work to celebrate the centenary of the death of John Ruskin in 2000. These photographs show the places, spaces and objects that helped Ruskin make sense of the world around him.
The word ‘praeterita’, a Latin term meaning 'things gone over/past', was chosen by John Ruskin as the title of his unfinished autobiography. John Riddy used the names of its 28 chapters as the titles of his images shown in this exhibition.
The photographer conceived this display as a single installation, each image offering its own resonance without the distraction of text or labels. An introductory sheet for visitors to the Galleries provided a simple explanation of the images and their references.
John Riddy: Simplon, 2000
This exhibition also included copies of various editions of Praeterita, along with a number of drawings and daguerreotypes by Ruskin.