As you can see June is pretty filled with meetups, but I’m sure some of you will find time to visit a few of these exhibitions. Has anyone already been to the big exhibition in the Tate Modern?

Tate Modern
Bankside, SE1 (www)

Street & Studio: An Urban History Of Photography - until 31st August
It presents a fascinating history of photographic portraiture taken on the street or in the photographer’s studio, looking at the differences between these two key locations in which photographers work. Street & Studio brings out the contrast between the photos taken in the carefully orchestrated studio, and images captured in the changing and uncontrollable street, whilst highlighting the crossovers between the genres and their influence on each other.
Over 350 striking works are gathered in this stylish exhibition, by some of the world’s most famous and important photographers including Francis Alÿs, Diane Arbus, Cecil Beaton, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Rineke Dijkstra, Jacques Henri Lartigue, Robert Mapplethorpe, Irving Penn, Norman Parkinson, August Sander, Cindy Sherman, Malick Sidibé, Paul Strand, James Van der Zee, Juergen Teller and Wolfgang Tillmans. Focusing on photos taken in buzzing cities, with their cosmopolitan cast of hipsters, businessmen, beauties and criminals, Street & Studio builds an engrossing urban history of photography, ranging from early black-and-white pictures from the late 1800s, to elegant fashion photography from the mid twentieth century, to cutting-edge portraiture by contemporary artists.

Photofusion
17a Electric Lane, SW9 (www)

Changing Spaces - until 21st June
Changing Spaces brings together five photographers whose work addresses the changing nature of urban space. The exhibition reflects on a range of visual styles, narratives and research methodologies drawing on documentary, fine art and landscape practices, in order to investigate how urban space is constructed through the perceptions, intuitions and apperceptions of the visual artist located within, and responding to the city.
Simon Rowe’s photographs, part of a larger project about the Pepys estate, present a portrait of a South East London housing estate as it moves into a new era. The project reflects a sense of the multiplicity of human and social relationships against a backdrop of social change and regeneration.
Gregor Stephan’s practice addresses urban and rural spaces in transformation based on economic revaluation, more specifically addressing questions of aesthetics in relation to economic change in urban and rural structures. His work in this exhibition focuses on Berlin – Schönefeld airport, which will become one of Germany and Europe’s largest airports within the next ten years.
Mandy Lee Jandrell’s photographs, taken within the parameters of constructed leisure environments such as theme parks and zoos, highlight the discord between the aspirational or idyllic nature of their design and the points at which those aspirations are broken down by reality.
Isidro Ramirez’s interest stems from differences in sensory perception. Sighted people are often unaffected by some visual aspects of their world. Using photography, Ramirez tries to expose this paradox by illuminating the spaces in which blind people live and work.
Laura Braun photographs social and public spaces devoid of the presence of people. This project about Downtown Los Angeles has it’s beginning in the fiction written about the city but it seems that time has forgotten it. There is a sense of absence and stillness, as if Downtown was suspended somewhere above the rest of the city.

Janelle Lynch: River - from 27th June
Janelle Lynch’s first UK solo exhibition with River, a series of photographic waterscapes that explores themes of impermanence and loss through historical urban architecture.
The images were made along the Hudson River in Manhattan between Canal and 65th Streets in areas that were part of New York’s once-vital shipping industry and railroad transportation system. They contain remnants of the deteriorated maritime piers, piles that supported the piers, original railroad structures, as well as recent constructions that are part of the new Hudson River Park. Across the river, at the horizon line in some of the photographs, other historical structures can be seen in New Jersey such as the Erie Lackawanna Railroad terminal in Hoboken and the Colgate Clock in Jersey City.
The architectural elements in the photographs conjure history of more than a century ago. A vast cultural shift is implied and the suggestion of evolution and change is imparted.

The Photographers’ Gallery
5 & 8 Great Newport Street, WC2 (www)

Once More, With Feeling - until 15th June
Once more, with feeling explores the interwoven themes of memory, repetition and performance found in each artists’ work. Using video, photography and performance, the artists explore all aspects of life in Colombia – from the violent internal conflict to the humour, youth and playfulness of this troubled country.
Milena Bonilla’s photographs document the colourful remnants of her anonymous performances of sewing torn seats on buses throughout Bogotá.
María Elvira Escallón’s photo installation of the aftermath of a nightclub bombing is a lasting memorial to the 36 lives lost in the Colombian capital of Bogotá.
Juan Pablo Echeverri’s passport photos are the result of his daily visits to a photography studio. Accumulating over seven years this ongoing – perhaps lifelong – work uses both repetition and performance.
Juan Manuel Echavarría’s videos include recordings of songs composed by country dwellers displaced by violent events and massacres, and also the witty interplay between two parrots taught to repeat endlessly the words war and peace.
Oscar Muñoz revives a forgotten archive of street photographs depicting everyday life in the city of Cali during the 1950s, 60s & 70s. In his video Re/trato he repeatedly attempts to draw a self-portrait in water on a hot pavement, but as the water evaporates the impossibility of his task becomes frustratingly evident.
María Isabel Rueda’s black & white photographs document young Colombian Goths, a group of young people united in silent resistance to what is considered ‘normal’ Colombian lifestyle.

In Focus: Running Late - until 15th June
Ever waited for a haircut? This display features photos of Soho by Cuts hair salon clients, taken in early 2008, who were handed a camera while waiting for a cut and style. Cuts staff also took to the streets with cameras during their down time.
The resulting photographs present a view of Soho you may have never seen before – in turns mysterious, baffling and full of quiet, reflective moments.

New Graduates Show: freshfacedandwildeyed08 - from 21st June
Presenting the most dynamic new work by visual arts graduates from BA and MA courses across the UK.

Michael Hoppen Gallery
3 Jubilee Place, SW3 (www)

Ruth Orkin - until 15th July
An exhibition of photographs by Ruth Orkin including American Girl in Italy, one of the most widely known photographs ever taken. Co-curated by Orkin’s daughter, Mary Engel, the exhibition will feature rarely seen photographs from Orkin’s travelogue encapsulating the tourist’s experience in Italy alongside iconic images spanning Orkin’s career.
On August 22, 1951, on the Piazza della Repubblica in Florence, Ruth Orkin, a 29 year old aspiring photojournalist, took the photograph that made her famous. The image of a young woman walking through a thicket of men was considered risqué in its time but since then it has become one of the most famous pictures ever taken. The image is such a perfect and classical composition that some critics to question whether or not the scene was staged. Orkin never hid the fact that the shot was not entirely spontaneous, and spoke of having directed some minor elements of the scene. Whether “real” or not, the image remains an icon of street photography to this day.

The New York School - until 7th June
Between the late 1930s and the early 1960s a group of young photographers living and working in New York City redefined street photography. This group of artists became known as The New York School.
These photographers documented the post war energy and exotic chaos of New York City as it evolved from the crisis years of the Great Depression and the Second World War through to the social turbulence of the early seventies. Most of them worked on magazines but it was their personal work that stood them apart. They captured the choreography of the city from the sidewalks of downtown, to the intensity of Times Square, the isolation and elegance of the architecture and the mass of humanity at Coney Island. Many of the New York School identified with the values of film noir, stylish low-key black and white images with a certain moral ambiguity. Their style utlilised the methods of documentary journalism, small cameras, available light and a sense of the fleeting and candid and yet they rejected the anecdotal descriptiveness of most photojournalism.
Many had attended workshops at Richard Avedon’s studio often taught by their mentor Alexei Brodovitch, who had totally re-invented photography, design and layout within the confines of Harpers Bazaar magazine. Many went on to become legendary in their chosen fields of photography.

Alex Prager: The Big Valley - until 12th June
Cinematic and darkly playful, The Big Valley is a series of highly saturated staged portraits by Los Angeles based artist, Alex Prager. For her first solo UK exhibition this entirely new work will be shown alongside photographs from her high-successful Polyester series.
Prager photographs her female subjects in a style reminiscent of the great mid 20th Century film directors such as Alfred Hitchcock and Douglas Sirk. Amongst the naivety of her compositions and colour palette there is the suggestion of impending narrative. Similar to old style movie stills displayed outside cinemas, Prager’s photographs offer us stories that encourage us to imagine what happens before and after, beyond the edge of the frame. Often shot from an unexpected angle and unusually lit, the audience are positioned as voyeurs. Synthetic wigs, fake birds and retro costumes are meticulously planned and her models cast as players frozen in the narrative. On the surface these models appear polished and eerily near perfection, an artificial perfection racked with tension. Like Guy Bourdin, the king of photographic mise-en-scène, Prager demands more than simply a ‘pretty picture’.

Proud Galleries - Central
Buckinghamstreet, WC2 (www)

Let It Bleed: The Rolling Stones 1969 US Tour - until 20th July
Previously unpublished images examine the highs and lows of life on tour, almost 40 years since five Rolling Stones and their traveling companions set out on a cross-country journey that would leave its impact on the music world forever. Let It Bleed transports the viewer to those last days of the 1960s through backstage photographs and spectacular live shots, brought to life by the testimony of those who saw it all first-hand, exploring private and surprising stories that reveal the truth behind the story you think you already know.

Proud Galleries - Camden
Stables Market, N1 (www)

The Bigger Picture: Celebrating 17 Years Of Big Issue Photography - until 15th June
An exhibition of over 80 iconic images which have appeared in The Big Issue magazine since its birth, sixteen years ago. The exhibition brings together unique celebruty images alongside photo reportage and vendor shots.

Sid Vicious: No One Is Innocent - until 11th August
A revealing and intimate photographic exhibition of the most infamous and tragic of punk icons. Featuring exclusive, never-before-seen pictures from key punk photographers from the late 1970s, the show will shine new light on Sid’s chaotic life in the spotlight with his band-mates in the Sex Pistols, as well as his ill-fated relationship with the notorious Nancy Spungen.
Eileen Polk, one of Sid and Nancy’s closest friends in New York is exhibiting her personal photos for the first time. Well known on the New York punk scene, and one of the few people to be with Sid the night he died, Eileen’s photographs provide a tender look at Sid’s life in the US. These will be presented alongside work from a collaboration of world-renowned rock photographers including Janette Beckman, Adrian Boot and Peter Gravelle to create the definitive portrait of a legend.

Magnum Photos Print Room
63 Gee Street, EC1 (www)

1986: A Generation In Revolt - until 25th July
From the revolution and the riots, the Vietnam conflict, American Civil Rights and the Californian hippy movement, 1968 was a year of unrivalled activity. To commemorate 1968’s forty year anniversary, Magnum Photos presents a print sales exhibition featuring its unmatched archive of iconic vintage and contemporary photographs.

Hoopers Gallery
15 Clerkenwell Close, EC1 (www)

Joe Cornish: Wild Stillness - until 11th July
Landscape photographer Joe Cornish explores the geological heights and metaphorical depths of Britain’s remaining wild places. Taking his beloved wooden 5×4 inch field camera on to snow-covered mountain tops, over boggy moors, beside frozen rivers and on windscoured beaches, he has pushed to the very edge of his physical and creative limits. From this endeavour has sprung his most epic and challenging images to date. Attention to detail, compositional balance, raw energy, and sensitivity to light are all characteristic of his large format work. But these extraordinary perspectives, awesome vistas, mysterious juxtapositions of form, and extremes of light, shade and colour may come as a surprise.

Host Gallery
1 Honduras Street, EC1 (www)

Adam Hinton: Lovin’ It - until 7th June
Hinton’s new work from Shanghai documents the emergence of an aggressive consumer society in which the new proletariat of “communist” China comes to terms with living under the surreal haze of fluorescent lights and the constant gaze of advertising images.
The vivid colour photographs echo the nascent metropolis’ energy and explore the subtle interchange between the city framework and people who populate it. From commodity fetishism to impressions of personal nostalgia, Hinton’s work has dramatically drawn out the personal hope, dreams and struggles of the people of a 21st century metropolis.

Shoot London - from 9th until 14th June
A selection of work from the recent Shoot London Experience.


National Portrait Gallery
St. Martin’s Place, WC2 (www)

Underexposed - until 8th June
The 4 The Record Initiative was set up to address issues of cultural diversity through innovative and creative partnerships and interventions. The philosophy is to engage as many people as possible with the success stories and experiences of individuals who have played a part in promoting cultural diversity in the United Kingdom. Underexposed is the initiative’s response to the necessity of raising the profile and celebrating the immense talent and achievements of black Britons.
In the first in the series of Underexposed artistic interventions and exhibitions, photographer Franklyn Rodgers was commissioned, with the support of Decibel and Arts Council, England, to make portraits of thirty black actors including Earl Cameron, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Colin Salmon and Ashley Walters. These photographs have been used as the basis of a LCD screen installation featured in the Ondaatje Wing, Main Hall at the National Portrait Gallery. The film loop also contains a personal quote from each sitter that provides an insight into their personal approach towards their life and art.

Bryan Adams: Modern Muses - until 15th June
Historically, the term ‘muse’ refers to the Greek goddesses who represent the arts and inspire the processes of creation. The twenty-one subjects chosen as Modern Muses are a selection of outstanding women from different fields of achievement including the arts, charities and business photographed at differing points in their careers.
Canadian-born Adams has established himself as a leading photographer after many years as a successful rock singer and recording artist. He published a book of portrait photography for Calvin Klein called American Women (2005) and has had his work published in magazines such as i-D, British Vogue and Vanity Fair.

Eamonn McCabe: Artists And Their Studios - from 16th June
Celebrates the publication of Eamonn McCabe’s new book, Artists and their Studios. The book includes portraits of thirty-three artists in their studios, of which fourteen are shown here. The subjects span fifty years of art making from those who came to prominence in the 1950s and 1960s and are still working today. These include Howard Hodgkin and Frank Auerbach, whilst Richard Long and Michael Craig-Martin emerged in the 1970s and 1980s. Three recent Turner Prize winners, Chris Ofili, Grayson Perry and Simon Starling, are shown in the context of their contemporaries, Stuart Pearson Wright and Maggi Hambling, working in figurative art.

Atlas Gallery
49 Dorset Street, W1 (www)

Harry Gruyaert: TV Shots - until 7th June
Harry Gruyaert made photographs of distorted TV images, covering events such as the 1972 Munich Olympics to produce a distressed parody of the current affairs photostory. The work created controversy when exhibited (at the Robert Delpire Gallery in Paris in 1974), with its disrespectful assault on the culture of television and its radical challenge (both formally and in terms of content) to the conventions of press photography. Gruyaert views the work as the closest thing to journalistic photography he has ever made.

AOP Gallery
81 Leonard Street, EC2 (www)

AOP Assistant Awards 2008 - until 13th June
The AOP Assistants Awards showcases the best of the next generation of professional photographers. Judged by specialists from the photographic world, the exhibition features the work of 35 Assistant Members including the AOP Assistant of the Year.

College Showcase - from 16th June
During the annual New Shoots season the AOP Gallery play host to a series of exhibitions showcasing work by various colleges and universities from up and down the country. Every year is as diverse as the last making this series of exhibitions a must see in the calendar.
Five colleges showcases will be on view, from esteemed photographic courses at AOP Affilaited Colleges/Universities: including: City and Islington College, Staffordshire University, Plymouth College of Art & Design and Cleveland College of Art & Design as well as non-AOP Affiliated, Northumbria University.

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