Great Yarmouth
Details
Pleasure Beach
Great Yarmouth
NR30 3EH
August 2025 - ongoing
A Perfect Sentence was commissioned and produced by Forma in collaboration with eight UK organisations. Supported by Arts Council England, Art Fund and Outset Contemporary Art Fund.
A Perfect Sentence
Great Yarmouth, Pleasure Beach
In collaboration with originalprojects;
A Perfect Sentence by Oliver Frank Chanarin is an evolving photographic installation that explores our complex relationship with images in the age of the algorithm. The exhibition features hundreds of photographs that document Chanarin’s encounters across the UK throughout 2022, including those that took place in Great Yarmouth.
Kaavous Clayton and Julia Devonshire, Directors, originalprojects;, say:
originalprojects; is delighted that Great Yarmouth is part of ‘A Perfect Sentence’ - a project that connects people - those pictured and those experiencing the work - in an exchange that reaches across the UK's regions. Rooted in this place, the images open up wider reflections on our time, place and society, while also inviting us to engage with the artist’s process and consider how the act of making images helps shape the world we see.
Produced with a medium format analogue camera, the images are drawn from an archive of thousands of negatives Chanarin created during the year-long production. Shaped by many spoken and unspoken exchanges, his work grapples with the conflicting desires and anxieties people experience around being seen. Some participants became collaborators through photoshoots, workshops, and talks, while others were spontaneous, chance meetings in the street.
Behind the scenes during installation: Oliver Frank Chanarin, A Perfect Sentence, 2024. Pleasure Beach, Great Yarmouth, 2025. Commissioned and produced by Forma in collaboration with eight UK organisations. Images courtesy the artist and Forma. Supported by Arts Council England, Art Fund and Outset Contemporary Art Fund. Photo: Forma.
Behind the scenes during installation: Oliver Frank Chanarin, A Perfect Sentence, 2024. Pleasure Beach, Great Yarmouth, 2025. Commissioned and produced by Forma in collaboration with eight UK organisations. Images courtesy the artist and Forma. Supported by Arts Council England, Art Fund and Outset Contemporary Art Fund. Photo: Forma.
Oliver Frank Chanarin, A Perfect Sentence, 2024. © Oliver Frank Chanarin. Pleasure Beach, Great Yarmouth, 2025. Commissioned and produced by Forma in collaboration with eight UK organisations. Images courtesy the artist and Forma. Supported by Arts Council England, Art Fund and Outset Contemporary Art Fund. Photo: Forma.
Behind the scenes during installation: Oliver Frank Chanarin, A Perfect Sentence, 2024. Pleasure Beach, Great Yarmouth, 2025. Commissioned and produced by Forma in collaboration with eight UK organisations. Images courtesy the artist and Forma. Supported by Arts Council England, Art Fund and Outset Contemporary Art Fund. Photo: Forma.
Behind the scenes during installation: Oliver Frank Chanarin, A Perfect Sentence, 2024. Pleasure Beach, Great Yarmouth, 2025. Commissioned and produced by Forma in collaboration with eight UK organisations. Images courtesy the artist and Forma. Supported by Arts Council England, Art Fund and Outset Contemporary Art Fund. Photo: Forma.
Through conversations, accidents, and invitations, Chanarin’s work negotiates the charged dynamics of human interactions. Created when digital technologies have transformed how we make, consume, and share images, it reflects on the ways these shifts have disrupted and complicated the practice of documentary photography.
Chanarin hand printed the photographs in the darkroom, creating hundreds of unique C-type prints. Many of the artworks feature annotations on cropping, colour filtration, or show gradients of exposure. These handwritten notes point to an ongoing printing process, allude to the fluid nature of identity, and declare the subjectivity inherent in image-making.
Our gratitude extends to the teams at Norwich Castle Museum and Time and Tide Museum whose involvement as co-commissioning and production partners was invaluable; to Albert Jones, Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach; and Adelmo Ricardo Calipe Fonseca, Assistant Photographer, who provided vital support to Oliver during every photoshoot in the region. We are so very grateful to the many people who facilitated workshops, photoshoots and shared their stories - their time and energy has been invaluable.
Details
Pleasure Beach
Great Yarmouth
NR30 3EH
August 2025 - ongoing
A Perfect Sentence was commissioned and produced by Forma in collaboration with eight UK organisations. Supported by Arts Council England, Art Fund and Outset Contemporary Art Fund.