Subtitled ‘A Century of Photography’, this is an absolute crowd-pleaser of an exhibition, precision-tooled to draw in the fascinated tourist alongside the domestic royal-watcher. However, whatever your views on the monarchy (which, I can assure you, it won’t change in any way), I still think it deserves your attention. This is a show equally concerned…
Category: Photography
Photo synthesis: Hiroshi Sugimoto, Hayward Gallery, London
I came to this exhibition very late, so this is something of an ‘emergency’ post to encourage any of you with some time over the holiday season to catch it in its final fortnight. Sugimoto’s photography is always different; always the same. The subjects change but they are all viewed, literally, through the same lens….
Moving images: ‘Yevonde – Life and Colour’, National Portrait Gallery, London
‘Madame Yevonde’ (born Yevonde Philone Cumbers) was a professional photographer whose versatile, pioneering career – lasting some 60 years until her death in 1975 at the age of 82 – reflected the relentless pace of change during the twentieth century. When visiting this major exhibition devoted to her work, it feels like walking through several…
Narrative threads: ‘Africa Fashion’, V&A, London
This was one of the most purely exciting exhibitions I’ve seen in a long time. So vibrant and visually assured, it stimulates one’s sight in the same way a complex gourmet meal explodes in multiple flavours across the taste buds. Seasoned visitors to the V&A might not be surprised by this. Quick note for those…
Invisible Threads: An Illuminating Photography Show at the St Albans Museum+Gallery
The St Albans Museum + Gallery presents Invisible Threads in which time, memory, personal and public histories are explored by twelve photographers. Rosemary Cooper’s hand printed black and white prints focus on the hearth and family. A man’s coat hanging on the back of a chair conveys absence whereas hope comes in the form of…
Hang about: Andreas Gursky (White Cube, Bermondsey); ‘For the Record’ (Photographers’ Gallery)
A few Saturdays ago, I went to two photography exhibitions. When you see two shows more or less together like this – even though they are nothing to do with each other – it’s hard to stop unlooked-for, and occasionally revelatory, connections popping into your head and affecting how you perceive the work. Both the…
Picture This : ‘Pina’s Line Dancing Troupe’ by Natasha Durlacher
Pina is the one wearing the stripy trousers and here they are practising at St.Pauls Church, Marylebone, where I photographed them. Pina is eighty-four and is the choreographer and the one who set up the dance troupe about twenty years ago. The dancers are now all over seventy years old and most are in their late seventies,…
Spirit levels: ‘Unsettling Landscapes’, St Barbe Museum & Art Gallery, Lymington
How appropriate that on this occasion, during the walks between the car and St Barbe Museum & Art Gallery, the chill in the coastal air was icy enough to penetrate my fleece, and the wind strong enough to bend the bare branches of the trees further in, over our heads. St Barbe has an admirable…
Flowers Fascinate in a new show at Dulwich Picture Gallery
Karl Blossfeldt 1928. Photogravures Flowers have always fascinated. In an intriguing exhibition entitled Unearthed: Photography’s Roots, The Dulwich Picture Gallery, endeavours to bring us its story of plant photography, from 1840 up to the present day. Taking…
Concrete jungle: ‘Among the Trees’, Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre
At a time when the outside world desperately needs to recognise the importance of the arts, it’s fitting to see an entire exhibition of art on a mission to engage directly with the outside world. ‘Among the Trees’ includes pieces from 37 artists (based worldwide), working in a range of media: as we wander through…
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