Exhibitions & events - November
From Bruce Springsteen to The Who via Soviet sports photography, inspired London youths and Japanese photography: this is the list of exhibitions for November.
Photomonth: East London Photography Festival - October & November
Various venues
Photomonth 07 the East London Photography Festival features more than 80 exhibitions and events in 50 galleries and spaces in East London. Shoot Photomonth launches the festival which opens with the first photo-open at the Art Pavilion. Anna Fox gives the photomonth lecture and the portfolio reviews take place over two days at the Whitechapel. The photomonth seminar ‘Photographing the East End’ is at the Rich Mix and Stephen Gill conducts photo-tours around Hackney Wick.
Jerwood Space
171 Union Street, SE1
Jerwood Photography Awards 2007 - from 9th November
Originally established in 2003 through a collaboration between the Edinburgh based photographic journal Portfolio Magazine and the Jerwood Charitable Foundation, these annual awards aim to give opportunities to five promising photographers that will help establish them in their careers in the transitional and often difficult period after graduation.
Open to artists of any age who work with the medium of photography, applicants must be resident in the UK and have graduated from a visual arts degree course in the UK within the past three years. Awards are made to five artists whose submitted photographs, in the opinion of the selectors, demonstrate originality and excellence.
Each of the five winners receives an award of £2,500, representation in the December issue of Portfolio Magazine and inclusion in a group exhibition at the Jerwood Space, London, in November each year. Now in their fifth year, these awards offer a unique combination of financial reward, full-colour reproduction of work in a renowned photographic publication and the opportunity to exhibit in the UK’s capital, providing much needed support to recent graduates at a critical stage in their careers.
Photofusion
17a Electric Lane, SW9
Pernille Koldbech Fich: Sisters / Introducing Viola - until 10th November
Introducing Danish artist Pernille Koldbech Fich to audiences in the UK with a debut solo show that includes her series Sisters and Introducing Viola.
The women represented in Sisters are ‘diakonisser’, which means church ordained nurses of the Danish diakonisse movement, founded in 1863 to help the poor and sick. Their tasks, which are medical, social and religious, are beyond those of a mere job. A diakonisse dedicates her life to the foundation and its work, rejecting many aspects of a ‘normal’ life for the cause of helping people in need. However, Koldbech Fich takes the focus away from their ‘acts of goodness’, which is typically how they are described and contextualised, and instead creates a series of theatrical portraits staged within the sisters’ domestic interiors that reveal more of their individual character than the role and the uniform they share.
A little girl, Viola, dressed for a party, is central to the photographic series Introducing Viola, strikingly shot in dark interiors. The evening before the actual photo-shoot, Koldbech Fich invites a group of mutual strangers to enter into artificial relationships that span age, status, looks and gender. This odd gathering is recreated in the same location the following day where the subjects each settle into the psychological picture she has mapped out in the brief time she’s spent with them the previous evening.
Koldbech Fich likens Introducing Viola to a family story or a portrait of a generation: the subjects are all related, although the sense of isolation within the pictures creates an ambiguity around this. They could represent a mental or shared memory within the larger idea of the family – for example, the children could be a memory the adults have of their own childhood. The allure of these photographs however lies in the sheer magnetism of the figures and the part the viewer plays in trying to unfold their story.
Pavilion Commissions 2007 - from 23rd November
This exhibition showcases the work of four shortlisted artists selected for the Pavilion Commissions Programme 2007 which aims to offer exceptional, emerging UK-based photographers the opportunity to develop a new body of work.
Home Improvements by Millie Burton is a series of photographs and short films that documents ‘exiled’ domestic objects found at recycling centres within the UK. Like Frankenstein’s monster, the waste mountains that now exist are both frightening and pathetic creations of our own time. However, in their silent masses they present a challenge to our existence and way of life, whilst questioning our attachment and sense of value.
Lydia Goldblatt’s photographic series and short film, And The Word Was God, explores the ages at which religious ‘rites of passage’ rituals and ceremonies are performed, focusing on the moments from which children adopt forms of religious language, prayer and ritual. The work probes the encounter between the collective nature and identity of religious practice, and the individual who takes on these beliefs.
For Hetain Patel, unravelling the complexities that exist between the British born generation of which he isa part and the generation of immigrant Indians that are his family is ever present. In Kori Patels he explores how the culture and sensibilities of the Western world has impacted upon his family members, the legacy of an Indian mindset, cultural mannerisms and the way in which they reveal themselves.
In her series Per Pulverem Ad Astra, Eva Stenram has made negatives from NASA’s digital images of Mars and let these gather dust in her apartment before printing them. The resulting marked image is a combination of extreme distance and extreme proximity. There is a simultaneous gravitational pull towards the earth, to the dust around, and a pull upwards into space, away from the earth and towards the attraction – both physical and fantastical – of Mars.
White Cube Mason’s Yard
25-26 Mason’s Yard, SW1
Chuck Close: Family and Others - until 17th November
An exhibition of new paintings, tapestries and photographs by American artist Chuck Close. Over the past 40 years, through his unstinting study of the human head in both painting and photography, Close has transformed our understanding of portraiture and carved out a unique space in contemporary art.
AOP Gallery
81 Leonard Street, EC2
Superstition - until 3rd November
Fujifilm Professional, B+W Filters, Black & White Photography Magazine and Genesis Imaging invited members of the AOP to take part in a black and white photographic competition. AOP members were asked to capture their own interpretation of superstition on Fujifilm black and white film. The exhibition showcases all the images selected.
Horizon: Russian Cameras, Keralan Landscapes by Jake Polonsky - from 5th until 10th November
Jake Polonsky has been documenting unspoilt landscapes around the world over the last five years with Russian panoramic Horizon cameras and Kodak HIE infrared film. This series focuses on the state of Kerala at the southern tip of India, a unique combination of plantations, canals, mountains and coast.
Polonsky has been a fine art photographer for over ten years. He has been collaborating with Melvin Cambettie Davies on these prints, and they have arrived at a particular combination of split toning and printing which amplifies the magical quality of the infrared images. Polonsky’s work is focused on the evocation of pure and ancient landscapes. These artworks are about recording an unspoilt landscape, where evidence of modern human interference has been kept to a minimum. In attempting to preserve these environments by creating timeless pictures he evokes images from photography’s origin. His combination of infrared film and split toned printing creates the feeling of an historical image, the sense of someone observing these places with a camera for the first time.
The Photographers’ Gallery
5 & 8 Great Newport Street, WC2
In Focus: Web Search, Photography + Politics - until 11th November
This display will feature a selection of photographs that appear when the words ‘photography + politics’ are typed into a website search engine. The results are sometimes obvious, sometimes baffling. The presentation includes photographs of politicians and dignitaries not unlike those taken by Shemelis Desta, as well as images of unusual or enigmatic scenarios echoing Taryn Simon’s An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar project.
Taryn Simon: An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar - until 11th November
For this project Simon assumes the dual role of shrewd informant and collector of curiosities, compiling an inventory of what lies inaccessible, hidden and out-of-view within the borders of the United States. She examines a culture through careful documentation of diverse subjects from across the realms of science, government, medicine, entertainment, nature, security, and religion. Transforming the unknown into a seductive and intelligible form, Simon confronts the divide between those with and without the privilege of access.
Taryn Simon’s elegant but unsentimental images identify her as a central figure within a new generation of American photographers.
From Emperor To Military Dictator: Shemelis Desta’s Ethiopian Archive - until 11th November
Against the political and historical events that defined the twentieth century, Shemelis Desta recorded the tumultuous history of Ethiopia. For the first time in a major exhibition the key figures and moments he captured are revealed.
From the early 60’s until deposition Desta was Haile Selassie’s, Emperor of Ethiopia 1930 – 1974, official court photographer. During this time he took photographs of State leaders, including a youthful Queen Elizabeth II, paying their respects.
Following the infamous 1974 military coup and subsequent deposition of the Emperor, Desta continued to record government activity under the rule of the military dictator, Mengistu Haile Mariam. Desta captured the colourful pageantry of state military processions as well as a state visit from Fidel Castro.
This exhibition not only celebrates the power of the documentary photograph and the discovery of such a monumental archive, but also the story of a very personal journey and a country that is rich in culture, tradition and history.
Seeing Is Believing - from 23rd November
This will be an exhibition inspired by the otherworldly. It will combine vintage photographs from the archive of the Harry Price Library of Magical Literature alongside work by seven international artists who share a fascination for the unexplained. These artists are Clare Strand, Tim Maul, Susan MacWilliam, Ben Judd, Roger Ballen , Florencia Durante and Fred Ressler.
Antoine d’Agata: Insomnia - from 23rd November
This exhibition will be the first solo show in the UK of this Magnum photographer. D’Agata’s subject matter relies on chance encounters with people and places and these photographs are the consequences of these liasons. Raw and often challenging in subject matter, the images allude to an intense, often sexually charged, nocturnal world at the juncture of dream and awakening, and thinking and feeling.
The images from Insomnia present a fragmented, nomadic visual journey, epitomising what d’Agata describes as photography’s ‘intimate rapport with the world’.
Hoopers Gallery
15 Clerkenwell Close, EC1
Colin Jones: The Who 1966 - until 30th November
An exhibition of Colin Jones’s iconic images of The Who from 1966. Colin Jones’ claim that his pictures tend to get better with age has never seemed more apposite.
In 1966 The Who were on the verge of their big moment when Jones befriended Pete Townshend and was allowed access to the band to photograph them performing on tour, shopping for trendy gear on the King’s Road, and in quieter, more domestic moments.
These images are a testament to the birth of a generation that defined popular music and fashion for decades to come.
Host Gallery
1 Honduras Street, EC1
Borut Peterlin: Emerging Slovenia - until 3rd November
A series of portraits commissioned by Mladina magazine for their weekly section portraying creative figures working in Slovenia. Peterlin’s portraits strip their sitters of their PR image.
Chris Steele-Perkins: Haswell Plough to Harajuku - from 15th November
Atlas Gallery
49 Dorset Street, W1
Lev Boroludin: Soviet Sports Photography - from 8th November
The work of the celebrated Russian photographer, Lev Borodulin. Born in 1923 and now living in Israel, Borodulin’s career in photography mirrors that of many established masters of American and European photography. As the star photographer of “Ogonyok”, the most important illustrated magazine in Russia during the 40’s and 50’s, Borodulin almost single-handedly defined the style of post-war Russian magazine photography.
Victoria & Albert Museum
Cromwell Road, SW7
The Art Of Lee Miller - until 6th January
Lee Miller is one of the most renowned female icons of the 20th century - a unique individual admired as much for her free-spirit, creativity and intelligence as for her classical beauty. This exhibition will cover her extraordinary career as a photographer and is the first complete retrospective of her life and work, exploring her transformation from artist’s muse to ground-breaking artist.
Born in Poughkeepsie, New York, Miller began her modelling career on the cover of American ‘Vogue’ before meeting Man Ray in Paris in 1929. She became both his lover and muse and under his guidance started to produce her own imagery.
Curtis Moffat: Experimental Photography and Designs, 1923-1935 - until 13th January
Curtis Moffat created dynamic abstract photographs, innovative colour still lives and some of the most glamorous society portraits of the early 20th century. He was also a pivotal figure in Modernist interior design. Moffat’s archive, containing over 1,000 photographic prints and negatives as well as press cuttings, scrap books and ephemera, was generously donated to the V&A in 2007 by Penelope Smail. The donation is celebrated by featuring some of its highlights in this display. It also acts as a starting point to study Moffat’s pioneering but hitherto little-known work in more depth.
National Portrait Gallery
St. Martin’s Place, WC2
My Space - until 3rd February
My Space is an exhibition of work by young people from across London exploring ideas around buildings, places and identity. During the summer, groups of young people from Tower Hamlets, Newham and Camden have worked on the My Space project with architects, artists and National Portrait Gallery staff to make their own work for display in the Studio Gallery. The participants used portraits in the Gallery’s Collection as a starting point for exploring ideas around identity and the built environment, considering how public spaces influence behaviour and identity, and how buildings can play a symbolic role in portraiture.
In Stratford the heart of the Olympic project members of The Architecture Crew worked with photographer Lianne Harris and architect Nick Edwards to reflect on the rapid rate of change to their local area. The photographic portraits they produced are an insightful look at the relationship between young people in Newham and the high specification, high rise homes being built in the area.
Born 1947: Camera Press at 60 - until 20th April
The UK’s largest independent photographic agency celebrates sixty years with the unveiling of newly commissioned portraits by leading photographers of famous personalities all born in 1947 including Sir Salman Rushdie by Bryan Adams; Ronnie Wood by Sean Cook; and Tessa Jowell by Lord Snowdon.
This display marks the sixtieth anniversary of independent photographic agency, Camera Press, founded by Tom Blau in 1947. In addition to presenting to the public for the first time a group of newly commissioned portraits of notable Britons celebrating sixty this year, Born 1947 Camera Press at 60 also includes a selection of photographs by Tom Blau of subjects from the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.
Proud Galleries – Central
Buckingham Street, WC2
Bruce Springsteen: The Boss Revealed - until 2nd December
The best collection of Bruce Springsteen photography ever assembled in one place. Including rare unseen photographs from those who have worked most closely with him, this will be the ultimate portrait of an icon as he embarks on a tour of the UK.
Michael Hoppen Gallery
3 Jubilee Place, SW3
Eyes Of An Island: Japanese Photography 1945-2007 - until 1st December
This exhibition will bring together some of the most important and iconic images by recognised masters including Shomei Tomatsu, Daido Moriyama, Hiroshi Hamaya, Shigeichi Nagano, Hiromi Tsuchida, and Eikoh Hosoe. Whilst much of this work has been exhibited at major museums world wide this exhibition is a rare opportunity for this work to be re-examined. Eyes of an Island also integrates recent work by well-known photographers such as Hiroshi Sugimoto, Ryuji Miyamoto, Naoya Hatakeyama and Nobuyoshi Araki -amongst others.
There will be three stages of development charted in this period of Japanese photography: from post-war documentary bearing witness to the destruction of war; turning inward to personal and subjective interpretations of the rapid changes in Japanese society; to a contemporary movement which consistently pushes the boundaries of the photographic medium. These photographers illustrate the diversity and virtuosity of the unique Japanese visual language.
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