Exhibitions & events - July
It’s July and you would kind of expect some sunshine and warmth around, but no, not with this British weather. Of course it is kind of obligatory to have rain when Wimbledon is on. Anyway, for all those rainy afternoons there is plenty to see in the galleries around London this month.
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.
Miroslav Tichy - until 31st July
For thirty years, Miroslav Tichy took up to one hundred photographs each day pursuing his artistic obsession of the female form. Dressed in rags and using a homemade camera, Tichy captured the universe of people in the small town of Brno in the Czech Republic. He is truly one of the great ‘finds’ of an unknown artist who worked for years in complete isolation on the periphery of the art world.
Tichy left the Academy of Arts in Prague following the communist overthrow of 1948. Unwilling to subordinate to the political system he spent some eight years in prison and psychiatric wards for no reason other than he was ‘different’ and considered subversive. Upon his release he became an outsider, occupying his time by obsessively taking photographs of the women of Brno, using homemade cameras constructed from tin cans, children’s spectacle lenses, rubber bands, scotch tape and other junk found on the streets. He captured images of their ankles, faces and torsos whilst out strolling or sunbathing, behind the counter shop-girls, mothers pushing prams, and any others who caught his eye, sometimes finding himself in trouble with the police.
Polly Borland: Bunny - until 16th August
Bunny is a series of images by Polly Borland that create a portrait of an extremely tall girl called Gwen. Combining surrealism with a forensic study of the subject’s femininity, Borland has successfully borrowed from the surrealist ideas of Claude Cahun, Hans Bellmer and Man Ray to produce an intimate, yet haunting photographic narrative. Borland manipulates and changes her subject’s presence through a dynamic use of perspective and costume to produce an uncanny and raw sense of beauty. Unsettling but often humorous these images turn the traditional concept of the ‘bunny’ girl on its head.
These two artists have collaborated in Gwens’ role playing devising new and extraordinary vignettes together over a three year period. Gwen celebrates her uniqueness by being unafraid to be seen in all her beautiful freakishness. This is also a dark adult fairy tale Gwen travels through and drives the narrative by her continual transformation and growth.
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.
Tate Britain
Millbank, SW1 (www)
Mitra Tabrizian: This Is That Place - until 10th August
This is the first major UK exhibition of work by Mitra Tabrizian, an Iranian-British photographer and film director whose work combines documentary and film techniques to make elaborate photographic tableaux.
Bringing together a selection of works from the last eight years, the exhibition focuses on the rise of corporate culture, themes of nomadism and migration, and notions of homeland.
The exhibition includes Tehran 2006, a panoramic photograph showing a modern but run-down residential area, populated by a disparate group of people. While it is a constructed photograph, all the characters ‘play’ themselves: the crowd is a mixture of people who are struggling and those who are living on the edge.
Photofusion
17a Electric Lane, SW9 (www)
Janelle Lynch: River - until 28th July
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)
New Graduates Show: freshfacedandwildeyed08 - until 6th July
Presenting the most dynamic new work by visual arts graduates from BA and MA courses across the UK.
Fashion In The Mirror - from 18th July
The international photographers in this exhibition undress the theatre of fashion and question the creation of perfect beauty. Fashion in the Mirror is an overview of their self-examination and a rare look behind-the-scenes of fashion photography from the 1950s to the present day.
Finding both comedy and poetry in the set-up of the studio, the exhibiting photographers turn their cameras on the processes and paraphernalia of the fashion shoot. Photographers become mirrored in their own work and, as viewpoints are inverted and gazes misdirected, cameras stare back out at us expectantly.
Revealing the fashion industry’s secrets and undermining its glamorous illusions, the photographers in this exhibition create work that exposes this world from within.
In Focus: Hans Aarsman - from 18th July
How often does it happen, that you leave the shop without making the purchase after all? This project invites us to consider our compulsion to own, to keep and to collect. It invites us to slim down our addiction to material things, using photography as a space and money saving device. Contributions to this display are welcome.
Danny Treacy: Them - from 18th July
In this series of work, British born photographer Danny Treacy uses abandoned clothing to construct eerie suits, which he then wears in these life-sized portraits to become Them.
Dressing up in the suits for the final portraits, Treacy appears faceless and enveloped, both threatening and vulnerable. Looming out of the black background the figures could be urban warriors or mythical beasts.
The effect of these photographs is haunting and uncertain. The processes in this work add new layers and meanings to the idea of the self-portrait.
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)
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.
Snap! - until 13th July
Wedding day celebrations, disability demonstrations, fun at the beach and ambitions fulfilled are just some of the subjects displayed in the collection of 74 inspiring photos and stories from Mencap’s Snap! photography and story competition 2008, giving a personal insight into learning disability.
Snap!, now in its sixth year, showcases the talents of people with a learning disability through photographs and inspiring stories to increase understanding of learning disability by those closest to it. The photographs are either taken by or feature someone with a learning disability and are accompanied by a short descriptive story.
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)
Foto8 Awards & Summer Show - from 18th July
A celebration of the best in reportage, portraiture and landscape photography, where emerging and established photographers come together to exhibit their work and sell prints
Foto8 is committed to engaging audiences. In 2008, this commitment will be culminated into the first annual Summer Show where audiences will experience Foto8 quality photography while also being able to purchase affordably-priced prints. Rarely has this type of event been accessible in London, as Foto8 hopes to pave the way for beautiful, inspirational and affordable photography.
Photographers have been encouraged to submit entries of their work, as single images or as a short series, to be considered for inclusion in the Summer Show. Images will be chosen according to aesthetics and substance, yet all works, regardless of photographic genre, will be considered to allow for a wide-range of styles to be exhibited. Audiences can expect to see the work of emerging and established photographers on display in the one space for this seven-week long event.
National Portrait Gallery
St. Martin’s Place, WC2 (www)
Eamonn McCabe: Artists And Their Studios - until 19th October
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.
Want To See More Of Me? - until 7th September
A new series of portraits of Black British film actors by photographer Donald MacLellan, partnered by the UK Film Council.
This dynamic group of images, opulent and rich in colour, celebrates both the individual and collective achievement of these actors and contributes to debates around diversity, on-screen representation, content and portrayal.
In selecting a cross section of well established actors as well as those at the beginning of their careers, MacLellan highlights the depth and range of talent in the field and raises questions about the roles that are available to Black British film actors. Says MacLellan, ‘if you look again at my portraits you will see that each of the subjects is looking directly at you, most of them in a challenging way’.
Atlas Gallery
49 Dorset Street, W1 (www)
Jazz And Film - until 30th August
Dennis Stock has, since the 1950s, documented American society; photographing a cross-section of its people, places, myths and icons, as part of a lifetime’s exploration into the freedoms and spirit of the great American Dream.
Between 1957 and 1960, he photographed Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington and many others on the US jazz scene, all influential at the time, but some now considered obscure, or forgotten. Candid and unsentimental - backstage, relaxing or practising, jamming, commuting home after hours, or playing, close up and completely absorbed in their music - the photographs show Stock’s uncanny ability to shoot the enduring frame, perfectly encapsulating the moment. Through a profound love of Modern Jazz, he understands the infinite variety and essence of it; and with exceptional technical skill, he manages to see his subjects as indistinguishable from the backdrops against which they work.
AOP Gallery
81 Leonard Street, EC2 (www)
College Showcase - until 19th July
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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