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Gemma Perkins

@gemperkins

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I’ve recently decided I probably need to start coming through on the promises I perpetually make myself that I’ll find some time to sort out my own “stuff,” which is highly uncomfortable for me. What feels even ickier is when people ask you what you do and suddenly you’re fumbling over your words to try and explain, eventually blurting out that you can colour within the lines.

So I’ve been proactively making time to do things for me. You may not know that before I studied design I actually studied Photography in college, quite possibly one of the last generation to study on 35mm and in a dark room, because at the time... that was just photography!
So here we go, me posing in front of a proper camera so I could see if I could still do proper post production without fancy bits and without it being a filter or LUT bodge job. by @gemperkins

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3 months ago

Created in the Leytonstone sun, this piece celebrates "unusual laughter" and the quiet joy of movements that seem ordinary to most, but mean everything when you’re finding your feet again.

Matt at Slope asked me to draw something of my own choosing, with no idea of the timing: this weekend marks exactly one year since I fell into a coma. As someone notorious for overthinking and suffering with imposter syndrome, I’m not entirely sure how this piece or the Larkin poem popped into my head—but sometimes things just come out of nowhere when you aren’t thinking too hard.

As always poetry and art is open to interpretation but for me this was made in an attempt to try and capture that “fresh-peeled” moment when a world starts to move again. For anyone who has navigated their own long winter—whether through a profound shift like mine or a quieter, personal stasis—the turn of the season is rarely a date on a calendar. It is the simple, physical or metaphorical reality of finally being able to put on your trainers.

#windowart #illustration #leytonstone #e11 #posca taken in Slope of Leytonstone by @gemperkins

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7 months ago

"An absolute treat of a morning yesterday, I got to cross the threshold into a place…." – and that is where my sentence was left for hours yesterday, upon returning from my time spent with Russell at his @hooksmith engine room. Nay, holy ground. Hallowed land?

Calling it a studio feels too fickle — it's just not enough to describe what it was, and in the same vein, writing a description here about what I experienced feels equally insubstantial.

So all I'll say for now is: 40-year-old me stood in reverence, the scrappy feral kid in me came alive, and the creative in me remembered she was part of something much bigger.

The typesets, the paper, the ink, the monumental presses, the stories, the craftsmanship, the engineering — all tactile things you have to wrestle with in order to create. And though I wrestle with ideas and designs all the time, this felt different. This felt like having a soul again. I felt my chest want to puff out, my muscles want to flex, and my brain was firing on all cylinders. There was no ctrl+Z, no flicking through endless fonts at the touch of a button — everything was intentional.

Russ, to you a massive thank you once again doesn't feel enough. Seeing how you have collected and curated such a beautiful place, and how you take stewardship of a mind-blowing collection — curated and looked after with the utmost respect and love — is a moment that has been marked in my brain as something rather special.

In my humble opinion, you finally did get that elephant in your garden!

#typography #print #letterpress #woodtype #madebyhand taken in Hooksmith Press by @gemperkins

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3 months ago

First three, no flash.

It feels like I’m on my 7264585th attempt to locate my mountain of live photography from twenty years ago.

A mixture of age, moving around, corrupt hard drives, lost online data and a sprinkling of me being a squirrel-adjacent feral means this is just one pile of nuts I’ll never find again.

I always dreamed of gathering them all into a collection called “First Three, No Flash”, the standard line as soon as you were handed your press pass.

I’ve been feeling nostalgic for that time recently. Hearing tonally challenged super fans screaming down your ear as you telepathically pleaded with the lighting tech to centralise the spotlight on Super Furry Animals’ enlarged astronaut head. Desperately trying to get Photoshop to sympathetically squash as much red as possible on your ISO 1600 shot of contorting Editors.

Then grabbing NME to see if your photo had been snuck in last minute, or seeing the comments flood in on the artist’s MySpace: “I want this on my wall”. The ultimate compliment!

I’d been chilling in music venues since before I could talk. I’d say running, but my parents had resorted to putting me in reins due to my tendency to restlessly wander off and play with the frequency settings on the Marshall stacks, while my Dads face got increasingly confused on front of house. Maybe an early sign my photos needed a more secure attachment method too.

I’ll keep searching, hoping they’ll come back around the way a camera has found its way back to my hands, which have shocked even me with how much muscle memory they’ve held.

So for now, here’s one I did find, probably the last time I shot live, 6 years ago almost to the day, working with the talented Mr Alex Ohm (pre-Juke). Turns out I never processed them, probably because I’d shot on entirely the wrong settings. This one had a little something worth processing, though.

Does the live live?

#livemusicphotography #gigphotography #blackandwhitephotography #fujifilm #birminghammusic by @gemperkins

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a month ago

I’m not best known for my ability to sit still, but when I do it’s often on the floor with my back against a wall and my knees tucked safely under my arms. It gives me a similar feeling as a four to the floor rhythm, constant, regulatory, routine, predictable. A reset. A check-in. Ready for the next song to start. by @gemperkins

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a month ago

1998.
Couldn’t grasp languages.
Wild unruly hair.
Full of ideas (see said hair).
Loved comfy Adidas.
Awkward but trying her best.

2026.
Professional communicator, but still crap at languages.
Unruly wild hair.
Ideas are now her life.
Branded in nostalgia.
Remained ever awkward despite trying her best. by @gemperkins

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2 months ago

Everytime I take our bins out I have to walk past this pile of absolute gold calling me by name and then I remember I’m a 40 year old woman for crying out loud, I can’t just go and set up my camera and clamber over it as if it were my own personal jungle gym—what would the neighbours think?
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Today I decided to find out.
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My 90s childhood dreams are alive and well.

#photography #fujifilm #urban #90s #justdoit taken in Leytonstone by @gemperkins

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2 months ago

Ambassador of Naps.
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I’ve really been enjoying getting back to illustration recently and like anything it takes practice and lots of it. My hand is starting to remember how to put the messy storage box of ideas in my head to paper and why not start with something that has a giant stamp of approval from me… The humble nap,. I like them and they like me, you could say we’ve got a good thing going.
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I’m considering doing some limited edition prints of artworks, let me know what you think? by @gemperkins

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a year ago

Dear Leytonstone, you’ve changed everything in my life.

Design and print and setup in this photo thanks to Mr @hooksmith who does the most incredible work out of full absolute sheer passion, knowledge and enthusiasm for every single detail of every single print. From meticulously sourcing letterpress blocks, paper, inks, print methods and so much more. Russy thanks for being a great guy who enjoys a coffee and lets me sit next to you and chat everything geeky over the print and type world. by @gemperkins

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2 years ago

Todays gratitude… sitting outside after a little walk, @designfestbrum bag with some goodies lying on my lap. feeling the warm wind sweeping my hair across my face, listening to Jeff Buckley in my earphones, shutting my eyes and taking some deep breaths to remind myself life is life and there’s zero point in stressing over it (even though I do). by @gemperkins

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2 years ago

Went to see the bluebells @wanstead_park … got a bit snap happy. I didn’t go off any trails or touch any flowers, a nifty little camera and carefully handled tripod let me capture these beauties up close 🥰 #bluebells #spring #flowers #wild #woodland taken in Wansted Park by @gemperkins

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6 months ago

Doodling and experimenting for a piece I’ve had on my mind for a while now inspired by a hero of mine, she taught me life lessons even when I just thought she was teaching me practical tips for crosswords. by @gemperkins

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a year ago