Exhibitions & events - March
March 10th, 2009, by Neil
The Photographers’ Gallery
16-18 Ramillies Street, W1 (www)
Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2009 - 20 February - 12 April
Now in its 13th year, this annual prize of £30,000 rewards a living photographer, of any nationality, who has made the most significant contribution to photography in Europe, through either an exhibition or publication, over the past year. The winner will be announced on 25 March 2009.
The four shortlisted artists for the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2009 are:
Paul Graham (b. 1956, UK) nominated for his publication, A Shimmer of Possibility (steidlMACK, October 2007).
Emily Jacir (b.1970, Palestine) nominated for her installation, Material for a Film, presented at the 2007 Venice Biennale (7 June – 21 November 2007).
Tod Papageorge (b.1940, USA) nominated for the exhibition Passing Through Eden - Photographs of Central Park at Michael Hoppen Gallery, London (7 March - 12 April 2008).
Taryn Simon (b.1975, USA) nominated for her exhibition An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar at The Photographers’ Gallery, London (13 September -11 November 2007).
Hayward Gallery
Southbank Centre, SE1 (www)
Annette Messager: The Messengers - 4 March - 25 May
Annette Messager (born in 1943, who lives and works in Paris) is widely regarded as one of Europe’s most important contemporary artists. This retrospective presents an overview of the artist’s career and reveals her use of an astonishing and affecting repertoire of forms and materials, among them soft toys, stuffed animals, fabrics, wool, photographs and drawings.
The exhibition presents a panoramic survey from the intimate and conceptually driven pieces Messager made in the early 1970s to the very large sculptural installations of the past 15 years, in which movement plays an increasingly important role.
Atlas Gallery
49 Dorset, W1 (www)
Mario Giacomelli - Puglia - 26th March - 16th May
Widely regarded as the greatest Italian photographer of the twentieth century, Mario Giacomelli was born in Senigallia, Italy, in 1925. Following a poor formal education, he began his working life as a jobbing printer, before training as a typographer and did not fully embrace photography until he was 30 years old.
Above all, Giacomelli saw himself as a poet with a camera. “Photography is not difficult, as long as you have something to say”. Giacomelli’s famous statement underlines his casual disregard for the technical intricacies of the photographic process. This rawness of approach is a key characteristic of his work and his obliviousness to accepted dark-room practices resulted in the creation of works which were completely unique in style.
Proud Galleries - Camden
Stables Market, N1 (www)
AC/DC - 5th February - 31st May
In celebration of what is likely to be AC/DC’s last world tour, Proud Camden presents AC/DC: Let There be Rock– a photographic portrait of a band so prolific their sales figures rank second only to the Beatles. This exhibition will take place to coincide with the UK culmination of the arena tour, and marks the anniversary of the original singer Bon Scott’s untimely death.
In reaction to the reception AC/DC have received throughout their career, Proud Camden will look not at the musical super power as they are today, but instead at a young AC/DC, a band who themselves could not have predicted the phenomenal worldwide success they were to achieve.
Shot through the lens of celebrated rock photographer Philip Morris, this collection shines new light on members of the original line-up, including unseen images of the late Bon Scott alongside his iconic band mates. In his career as a rock photographer Morris has amassed an unrivalled archive of Australian rock photography, this will be the first time these images are showcased in the UK and includes images not previously seen anywhere in the world.
Proud Galleries - Central
Buckinghamstreet, WC2 (www)
Buddy Holly - 26th January - 26th April
Fifty years on from his tragic and untimely death Proud presents the greatest collection of unseen Buddy Holly images ever compiled, showing exclusively at Proud Central.
Described by critics as the single most creative force in early Rock & Roll, Holly pioneered a style that resonates far and wide – counting luminaries such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Elvis Costello and Bob Dylan as devotees. This exhibition will celebrate the star’s immense talent and shine new light on his short life, as seen through the lens’ of a collection of photographers including Lewis Allen, Harry Hammond, Bill Francis, Robert Illingworth and more.
Host Gallery
1 Honduras Street, EC1 (www)
Lonely Planet, Urban Encounter - 9 – 14 March
Still Human, Still Here, Abbie Trayler-Smith - 18 March – 4 April
Photofusion
17a Electric Lane, SW9 (www)
Leah Gordon Kanaval - 13th March - 24th April
British photographer and film-maker Leah Gordon first visited Haiti in 1991 and has built an extraordinary body of work over thirteen years. Jacmel, a coastal town in Southern Haiti, holds pre-Lenten Mardi Gras Festivities as part of a yearly carnival. Troupes of performers act out mythological and political tales in a whorish theatre of the absurd that courses the streets, rarely shackled by traditional parade. Whatever the carnival lacks in glitz and spectacle, it makes up for in home-grown surrealism and mythical metaphor.
The exhibition of black and white photographs at Photofusion premieres this work to UK audiences. Consisting mainly of medium format portraits, the exhibition includes stand alone pictures of iconoclastic individuals, themed sets and series presented as short narratives. It is significant that they are posed photographs, taken through negotiation with troupe members and influenced by traditional portrait photography. They represent snatched moments of calm freed from the dirt, sweat and colour of the chaotic ambience of the streets during the festivities.
Michael Hoppen Gallery
3 Jubilee Place, SW3 (www)
Miyako Ishiuchi - 12th March - 16th April
The Michael Hoppen Gallery is honoured to host the first European retrospective of work by Miyako Ishiuchi, Japan’s foremost female photographer. Taking over both floors of the gallery, it will be the first time images from the series ‘Mother’s’ (2000-2005), ‘1906 To the Skin’ (1991-1993) and ‘Yokosuka Story’ (1976-1977) have been shown in Britain. Curated by Dutch photographer and Japanese photography specialist Machiel Botman, the exhibition comes to us from Foam Museum Amsterdam and La Filature Scène Nationale-Mulhouse before moving to Riga Art Space in Latvia. The exhibition was organized and produced by Langhans Galerie Praha, a non-profit organization for the promotion of photography.
March 11th, 2009 at 9:07 am
There’s also some stunning work in an exhibition of Water images by Art Wolfe, Charlie Waite and Philip Plisson at the OXO gallery. On until the 21st March.