Meat feast
23 December
Early this year, pioneering online gallery One Shot launched by selling one-of-a-kind, museum quality prints from photographer Brian Finke to blind buyers, aiming to reclaim the mystery and fragility of analogue photography. Negatives are then destroyed to ensure that each piece is totally unique. Now, the artist has returned with a new project for the gallery, which focuses on a subject that has fascinated him for his entire career: meat. Raw meat. Meat in a burger. Meat cooking on a stove. The all-American’s iconic shots artfully combine documentary with a tinge of humour. This second edition is going on sale in early 2017.
Pictured: Shot Nº 06, by Brian Finke. © One Shot Editions 2016
Writer: Phoebe Jayes
Wild west
21 December
On view in Phillips' Park Avenue galleries in New York from 3 January is a collection of 82 pictures by one of the most significant contemporary photographers of the great American West. ‘That Day’ spans over three decades’ worth of photographs taken by Laura Wilson during her extensive explorations around America. The exhibition includes photographs of the Hutterites, a group of hermetic people established in 1870s America and Canada, whose beliefs are strongly against photography. Wilson made many trips to their colonies over the years and was finally granted permission to take photographs of them in black-and-white. Her rarely exhibited work captures the diverse spirit of the American West, including its vast landscapes and characterful locals. In February, it moves to the Whitney Western Art Museum, Wyoming.
Pictured: Cowboys Walking, J.R. Green Cattle Company, Shackelford County, Texas, May 13, 1997, by Laura Wilson. © the artist
Writer: Phoebe Jayes
Seeing is believing
20 December
'The timeliness of this exhibition could not be greater,' says Timothy Potts, director of the J Paul Getty museum, where a collection of media-curious works are on show until 30 April 2017. 'Breaking news: turning the lens on mass media' highlights the extent to which the media has infiltrated people's lives and shaped their perceptions of current events. It explores how artists have responded to the media's coverage of a range of topics. In doing so, it also points to the similarities between art and journalism; both need to represent and give meaning to their subjects. The pictured photograph shows four missiles during the time of Iran's weapon tests; the photograph appeared to contain one more missile than was alleged, a point that had not emerged before the photo was used.
Pictured: War Primer 2, Plate 31, by Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin, 2011. © Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin
Writer: Phoebe Jayes
Photo diaries
19 December
On Tuesday, Milan’s Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II opens its doors to Osservatorio, a new exhibition space dedicated to photography and visual languages. Therein, Fondazione Prada – which is in charge of the space – presents ‘Give Me Yesterday’, a collection of personal documentation from 14 Italian and international artists (Ryan McGinley, Izumi Miyazaki, Joanna Piotrowska and Maurice van Es among them). Shown together, the photographs explore themes of daily routine and liminal moments of intimacy.
Given the proliferation of photo-capturing technology and the unassailable circulation of digital imagery, ‘Give Me Yesterday’ explores the use of the photograph as a way of documenting daily life and personal ritual for a generation of young practitioners. It observes the power of the gaze, playing with the distinction of capturing truthful portraits of those unaware of the camera and those who subconsciously alter themselves when conspicuously made a ‘subject’.
‘Give Me Yesterday’ is on view from 21 December – 12 March 2017.
Sugimoto’s ‘Black Box’
16 December
Opening today, Amsterdam’s Foam hosts a conspectus collection by Japanese artist Hiroshi Sugimoto.
‘Black Box’ is a study of Sugimoto’s practice over the past 40 years, showcasing a five-part series comprised of 34 large-format prints. The artist’s most notable photographs have a marked visual delicacy and philosophical subjects. Sugimoto’s perspective and choice of genre has been identified as a classic tradition of photography, and the images are constructed to emphasise a rejection of modern technology.
Also working with sculpture, architecture and installation, Sugimoto’s craftsmanship has made him an influential creative figure. He continues to work, with examples of ongoing series included in the exhibition.
‘Black Box’ will be on view until 8 March 2017.
Pictured: Hyena-Jackal-Vulture, 1976. © Hiroshi Sugimoto
Writer: Liberty Dye
'The Situation Room'
15 December
Grotesque figures converse with one another in 'The Situation Room' at Ruth van Beek’s upcoming exhibition in The Ravestijn Gallery, Amsterdam. The figures react to the room as if they were a Greek chorus, exuberant in their carnivalesque distortion. Van Beek’s images come mainly from old photo books, skilfully rearranged and manipulated through cutting, folding and adding. In doing so, the original images are taken out of context, but the familiar imagery remains recognisable, speaking to our collective memory and maintaining a jarring hint of the natural amid such unnaturalness. In her work, Van Beek offers a counterbalance to the modern world's limitless information availability, by finding restriction in closed, physical archives. On view until 4 February 2017.
Pictured: Untitled (From the forest), 2016
Writer: Phoebe Jayes
New Yorker
14 December
An exhibition at the Wien Museum in Vienna, ‘Framing Two Worlds’ presents an archive of never publicly seen before work by the late Austrian-American artist Robert Haas. Beginning his photography career in the 1930s, Haas captured everyday life by observing architectural details and portraits of residents on the streets. After the Nazi’s took action across Europe in 1938, Haas' move to New York City gave him a new landscape to seek inspiration from. Bolstered by his background in graphic design and typography, Haas rebuilt his artistic eye through the influence of American visual culture. Until 22 January 2017.
Pictured: New York City, 1940s. Courtesy the artist.
© Wien Museum/Sammlung Robert Haas
Writer: Liberty Dye
Life under glass
13 December
Street photographer Nick Turpin is recognised for his urban documentation. On the Night Bus is his second publication of images captured on London’s public transport.
The book is comprised of portraits taken outside of bus windows during winter; Turpin uses the glass as a divider, an identity-protecting device between himself and his subjects. Using the condensation to hint at interior warmth and presence, these portraits provide a sense of intimacy in the enclosed bus, the soft glow and smudges that mark the passengers' faces comparable to those in classical paintings.
On the Night Bus, £16.95, published by Hoxton Mini Press.
Writer: Liberty Dye
Photographic memories
12 December
Currently on show at New York’s Sous Les Etoiles Gallery, ‘The Farther I Remember’ is a group exhibition featuring work by Carolle Bénitah, Eeva Hannula, Susanne Wellm and Robin Cracknell.
The collective show is a study relating to the photographers’ nostalgic dreams and memories; reworking new material from original archived prints and negatives, physically and digitally embellishing the source material. Therein, the once familiar becomes new, the artists’ interventions affording fresh new perspectives.
‘The Farther I Remember’ is on view until 4 February 2017.
Pictured: à la plage (at the beach), by Carolle Bénitah, 2009
Writer: Liberty Dye
‘In Asmara’
9 December
Opening this Saturday, 2016's Aperture Portfolio Prize winner Eli Durst will exhibit his collection ‘In Asmara’ at Aperture Gallery in New York. The inspiration for the series came during time Durst spent volunteering in an immigrant detention center in his hometown of Austin, Texas. While meeting people who had emigrated from Eritrea (of which Asmara is the capital), Durst was compelled to travel to the city to see for himself what went on within its modernist framework, and where he spent 15 days documenting details that capture the movements and moods of the city.
'In Asmara' is on view until 2 February 2017.
Photography: Portrait with Beetle, by Eli Durst, 2016
Writer: Liberty Dye
Powerful blow
8 December
In his new photo book Bomba, Thomas Prior captures the intense masculinity surrounding the sledgehammer festival in the small Mexican town of San Juan de la Vega. Every February, hundreds of local men gather on a desolate football ground to strap explosives to sledgehammers as a customary ode to an ancient battle, and Prior documents the destruction from the amateur ammunition. Noxious clouds of smoke pose as curtains to isolate the chaos from the public, and shrapnel travels as if wandering in the wind; these photographs provide a sense of romantic fascination behind the rather absurd act.
Available to pre-order at Dashwood Book's website, $65.
Writer: Liberty Dye
Early inspirations
7 December
For his new book Hometowns, British born photographer John MacLean traveled to 25 towns to document the childhood neighbourhoods of some of today’s most established photographers, including Takashi Homma and Gabriel Orozco. The photobook’s title is an extract of a directive the artist scribbled in his notebook five years ago: ‘Photograph the hometowns of your heroes’. The resulting series of sixty-five photographs do exactly this. MacLean has adapted his own style in each image, drawing influence from the individuals who once called the towns' home. Available through MacLean’s website, £40.
Pictured: Hometown Of Ed Ruscha Oklahoma City Oklahoma, by John MacLean. © The artist. Courtesy of Flowers Gallery
Writer: Liberty Dye
'I Welcome'
6 December
2016 has been an unequivocal cavalcade of disasters – so much so that it's easy to forget the continuing plight of refugees around the world, whose day-to-day problems are far more critical than ours.
Partly touching on this – but digging far further back through history – is a new exhibition on London's Southbank, organised by Magnum Photos in collaboration with Amnesty International. The show surveys the horrors of displacement since the Second World War in an attempt to humanise statistics and the numbing wash of news. Starting with Magnum co-founder David 'Chim' Seymour's shots of child refugees in Greece in 1946, the survey works through a variety of global crises, from Vietnam to Chechnya, to the current hell of war-torn Syria.
'I Welcome: An Amnesty International and Magnum Photos exhibition of photographs of refugee crises past and present' is on view until 18 December.
Pictured: Chechen refugees living in neighbouring Ingushetia. Russia. Ingushetia, 11/12 1999, by Thomas Dworzak, 1999. © Thomas Dworzak/Magnum Photos
Writer: Tom Howells
Ebb and flow
5 December
Opening this Saturday in the heart of Bangalore, India, Tasveer Arts presents an exclusive two part series by photographer Karan Kapoor, titled ‘Time and Tide’. The exhibition showcases the unique identities of Anglo-Indians in Bombay and Calcutta between the 1980s and 90s. Kapoor also closely documents time spent in Goa on Baga Beach with his family and friends.
These two subjects both connect with Kapoor’s vision and interpretation of capturing places and people no longer perceived in the same way. ‘Time & Tide’ comprise an archive that reveals the artist’s attempt to cling onto a traditional culture despite a continuous evolution of his community through modern influences.
‘Time and Tide’ is on view from 10 December – 20 January 2017 at Tasveer Arts. A new photography book, published by Tasveer, with original texts by William Dalrymple and Felicity Kendal, accompanies the exhibition.
Pictured: Brothers at the local feast in Loutolim, Goa, by Karan Kapoor, 1994. © Karan Kapoor. Courtesy Tasveer
Writer: Liberty Dye
Horizon line
2 December
Opening tomorrow at London's Michael Hoppen Gallery, ‘Measuring Infinity’ – on view until 23 December – is a solo exhibition from photographer Chloe Sells, who spent the last two years documenting the heart of Botswana’s Kalahari Desert, the Makgadikgadi Salt Pan. Sells plays with alchemic processing in the darkroom, helping her large-format photographs bring new life to the arid landscape. The artist’s experimentation with hand drawing and paint renders a new perspective on landscape photography; though the horizon line, seen in each work, creates an understanding between the fixed and altered layers.
Pictured: Kiss The Sky, by Chloe Sells, 2016. Courtesy of the artist and Michael Hoppen Gallery
Writer: Liberty Dye
Gavel talk
1 December
Webber Represents is a creative agency that supports a variety of artists, from photographers and designers to casting directors and stylists. To celebrate the agency’s 15th anniversary – in conjunction with Webber Gallery in London – they will be hosting a charity photography auction. All proceeds will go to Refugee Support Europe, who help to raise awareness and give ongoing aid to refugees the continent over. The auction features a selection of photographs donated by a host of Webbers’ previous photographers, including pieces from Thomas Albdorf (whose work is pictured), Gregory Halpern, Steve Harries, Venetia Dearden and Jo Metson Scott. All of the lots will be on display at a special exhibition located at Webber Gallery, from 14–16 December, and bidding is encouraged through the Webber Represents website.
Writer: Phoebe Hinton-Kench
Tales of the Emerald Isle
30 November
Comprising photographs based upon the Gaelic word teannalach (a West-Irish term meaning heightened awareness in a quiet surrounding) Irish photographer Enda Bowe’s new book At Mirrored River documents the people and places of small-town industrial Ireland. Each image aims to reveael the beauty of the mundane, and shines a new light on habitual scenes. The book is a collection of work that identifies ‘ordinary’ suburbia as a place for artistic possibility. Available through Claire de Rouen Books, £36.
Writer: Liberty Dye
Focal lore
29 November
Opening tonight at Beetles+Huxley in London, ‘Masters of Photography’ is a concise exhibition that brings together 29 renowned 20th century photographs. The collection is a monument to the era’s most groundbreaking images, each chosen for its significant role in the history of the medium. Featuring vintage and rare prints, highlights include Alfred Stieglitz’s seminal The Steerage (1907), and an oversized early print of Yousuf Karsh’s photograph of Winston Churchill – one of the most recognisable portraits ever taken. Until 23 December.
Pictured: Cabbage Leaf, by Edward Weston, 1931. © The artist. Courtesy of Beetles+Huxley
Writer: Liberty Dye
Body of evidence
28 November
Siloquies and Soliloquies on Death, Life and Other Interludes is a new collection of work by Portuguese photographer Edgar Martins. Throughout the publication, he examines an archive of forensic evidence photographs stored at the National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences in Lisbon. Martins' collection consists of over 3,000 negatives scanned over the space of three years. The book focuses on a refined selection of images, documenting weapons and items recorded as evidence at crime scenes and suicide locations. The series analyses death and the dead body, and objects such as suicide notes and death masks represent the contrast between past and present.
Siloquies and Soliloquies on Death, Life and Other Interludes, published by The Moth House, £48
Writer: Liberty Dye
Vision of disorder
25 November
On view at Dublin’s Gallery of Photography until 22 January, Prix Pictet presents the shortlist for the sixth edition of the world’s leading award for photography and sustainability. Twelve photographers are in the running for the 2016 Prix Pictet Prize, which focuses on the theme of ‘disorder’ and aimed at raising public awareness on the fragility of the environment. Following the exhibition each year, a book is published on the chosen theme, featuring the finalists. This year, the global selection includes the likes of Yang Yongliang (China), Maxim Dondyuk (Ukraine) and Pieter Hugo (South Africa).
Pictured: Abdulai Yahaya, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, by Pieter Hugo, 2010, from the series 'Permanent Error'
Writer: Liberty Dye
Pine arts
24 November
A new exhibition on William Eggleston – entitled ‘The Democratic Forest’ – has opened at David Zwirner gallery in New York. The show is accompanied by a slim volume published by Steidl, and includes a selection of images from the exhibition, which is itself whittled down from Eggleston's epic, ten-volume tome of over 1,000 images, released in full last year. Forming a biographical narrative, both the book and the show chart Eggleston's vast travels around America since the 1980s. The selection provides a manageable insight for Eggleston newcomers, while honing in on highlights for die-hard fans. It's a captivating view into the photographer's practice and a valuable expression into a well-trodden subject. The exhibition continues until 17 December.
Pictured, a photograph from William Eggleston: The Democratic Forest, Volume 8: The Surface, 2015. Courtesy of the artist
Writer: Phoebe Hinton-Kench
Dream world
23 November
Surrealist photography established a foothold in the art world in the early 20th century, aided by artists like Man Ray who developed signature techniques including double exposure, combination printing, montage, and solarisation. On view at London’s Atlas Gallery from tomorrow, ‘The Psychic Lens: Surrealism and the Camera' traces five decades of this photographic era, featuring compositions from the likes of Man Ray himself, Andre Kertesz and Florence Henri, alongside more unusual figures like Vaclav Zykmund, Franz Roh and Raoul Hausmann. The exhibition tells the story of photography, once assumed to be an inherently realistic medium, as a fantasy world; a revolution against the constraints of the rational mind. Until 28 January 2017.
Pictured: Sunglasses Lake Lucerne Switzerland, by Herbert List, 1936. © The artist and Magnum Photos
Writer: Phoebe Hinton-Kench
Fashion, photography
22 November
Today in Milan, Vogue Italia launches the first edition of the Photo Vogue Festival. The four-day fair celebrates the publication’s longstanding and hugely influential association with fashion and photography. Taking place throughout Milan, it presents a unique opportunity to delve into Vogue’s auspicious involvement in these disciplines, via lectures, conferences and exhibitions. Co-curators Alessia Glaviano and Chiara Bardelli Nonino have gathered 47 artists in a group exhibition, entitled ‘The Female Gaze’. The show explores the social utility of the gaze in photography; the photographers capturing the sensual, vulnerable truth that reveals the imperfection and idealised perspective of the female gaze. Photo Vogue Festival is on view until 26 November.
Pictured: Figure 10, by Isabelle Wenzel, 2010. © The artist
Writer: Liberty Dye
Public, private, secret
21 November
Since June, The International Center of Photography Museum in New York has presented ‘Public, Private, Secret’ - a rotating installation of photographers’ work on the theme of privacy (or lack thereof) in visual culture.
Tomorrow, British photographer Natasha Caruana’s ‘Married Man’ series goes on display. Over the course of a year, Caruana went on 80 dates with married men, in order to document the experience with a disposable camera and a voice recorder disguised in her red purse. The accessory has become an iconic emblem of the collection, making it immediately recognisable. Until 4 December.
Pictured: Nero, from the 'Married Man' series, by Natasha Caruana, 2008–09. © the artist
Writer: Liberty Dye
World on fire
18 November
Kuwait: A Desert on Fire – newly published by Taschen – is Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado’s exploration of the 1991 oil well incinerations by Iraqi military forces in Kuwait. The attacks were a manifestation of revenge by Saddam Hussein’s troops after being forced out of Kuwait by American forces during the Gulf War.
Salgado’s work surveys one of the world’s worst environmental disasters; over 700 oil wells were ignited. He subsequently captured the scorched landscapes, scattered with cluster bombs and animal remains. These photographs of soaring flames and smoke plumes not only evoke the unbearable temperatures therein – the heat caused the photographer’s smallest lens to warp – but also intimate the permanent damage caused.
Kuwait: A Desert on Fire, $59.99, published by Taschen.
Writer: Liberty Dye
Teller on Mapplethorpe
17 November
Alison Jacques Gallery steps back into the controversial and sensual side of the 1960s with its newest exhibition, ‘Teller on Mapplethorpe’. Opening in London tomorrow, the exhibition sees a curatorial collaboration between German-born photographer Juergen Teller and The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. To celebrate what would have been Mapplethorpe’s 70th birthday, Teller selected 58 images as a representation of the artist’s life and career. Featuring rarely exhibited prints, Teller shows the photographer’s work in a new light, creating a new angle of compassion in Mapplethorpe’s sexually explicit images. However, Teller’s curation is not wholly concerned with Mapplethorpe’s silver gelatin prints, arguably his most iconic works. Here he also showcases unique Polaroids from the 1970s and a selection of images taking animals as their subject matter. Until 7 January 2017.
Pictured: Frogs, 1984. © Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. Courtesy of Alison Jacques Gallery, London.
Writer: Liberty Dye
Hot off the press
16 November
In German photographer Thomas Ruff's ‘press++’ series, archival American news cuttings are scanned and layered together. First show in New York earlier this year, the works have now travelled to David Zwirner’s London gallery for a show opening on 18 November. Interested in the deconstruction of the image, Ruff scans the front and back of documents collected over several years – smudges, rips and scribbles included. The resulting photomontages tell the tale of time, while cleverly putting the newspaper stories in context of how they were received. Until 23 December.
Pictured: Press++01.38, by Thomas Ruff, 2015. Courtesy of the artist and David Zwirner, New York / London
Writer: Liberty Dye
Street smart
15 November
The Eyes of the City – a new photobook by Richard Sandler – presents a collection of images captured in Boston and New York City between 1977 and 2001. Having grown up on the streets of New York, Sandler used his intimate knowledge of the city to inform the project. Taking a nostalgic turn, these snapshots freeze and preserve the fast-paced environment, and with the help of Sandler’s precise eye, we see familiar streets in a new light.
Pictured: from The Eyes of the City, by Richard Sandler. Published by Powerhouse Books, $49.95
Writer: Liberty Dye
Island life
14 November
For his latest book, Destroying the Laboratory for the Sake of the Experiment, Magnum photographer Mark Power documents the shifting socio-politcal atmosphere of England, alongside poet Daniel Cockrill. During a series of road trips between 2006 and 2010, the collaborators witnessed pivotal changes in government and England's fall into deep recession. Through photography, Power captured the action that society took against its civic misfortunes. Cockrill’s poetry does the same through words. This self-published book demonstrates the changing moods and realities of an ever-adapting cultural climate. Tomorrow, Magnum Photo presents an evening with Mark Power and David Cockrill at The Nightingale Rooms, Brighton.
Pictured: UK. Lincolnshire. Ingoldmells. November 2006. From Destroying the Laboratory for the Sake of the Experiment. © Mark Power / Magnum Photos
Writer: Liberty Dye
Topsy turvy
11 November
Wandering Bears, founded in 2010, is a collective that showcases up-coming artists and photographers through talks, exhibitions and workshops. Its latest exhibition ‘Inside Out Upside Down’ explores how we engage with photography, challenging audiences to interact with the work. Part of London's The Photographers Gallery ‘open door’ residency series, the exhibition features 15 international artists (including Jason Evans, his work pictured). Visitors are invited to participate with and reinterpret their creations using mobile phones or cameras provided. The resulting images will be collated into their very own take-away sticker book. This inventive approach to photography helps the audience embrace their sense of adventure and indulge their creative streak. Until 13 November.
Writer: Phoebe Hinton-Kench
Visual noise
10 November
Opening tonight at Protein Studios in London, ‘Visual Noise’ is a new exhibition curated by StudioSmall and photographic agency East, exploring the complex relationship between humans, photography and sound. Featuring six artists - Jess Bonham, Anna Lomax, Leandro Farina, Linda Brownlee, Owen Silverwood and Ryan Lowry - ‘Visual Noise’ is an innovative take on a vast subject, drawing inspiration from ‘abstraction and rhythm, chaos and commotion, cyborgs and celestial bodies.’ Each of the artists share their thoughts on the matter through unique photographic styles. Expect loud, graphic works and electric colours - a resounding success. Until 13 November.
Pictured: Hard, by Jess Bonham and Anna Lornax, 2016
Writer: Liberty Dye
The shape of things
9 November
A new exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art in New York - ‘The Shape of Things: Photographs from Robert B Menschel’ – continues until 7 May 2017. The exhibition materials are gathered entirely from Menschel's generous donations to the MoMA archive over the last 40 years, including images on display for the first time. The final selection, whittled down from a vast collection of 504, are chosen for the way they chart the changing perceptions of photography. As Menschel believed, each generation re-invents photography – it is a medium in constant, exciting flux.
Pictured: The Gay Deceiver, by Weegee (Arthur Fellig), circa 1939. Promised gift of Robert B. Menschel
Writer: Liberty Dye
Jungle book
8 November
Between 17 and 28 October this year, British photographer Harley Weir witnessed the clearing of the refugee camp in Calais. These photographs make up Homes, a new book that displays the makeshift houses inside the camp. The images show that a space of humanity and relative security had been constructed in the so called ‘Jungle’, despite the overwhelming sense of displacement, loss and grief permeating it. Weir provides a unique and powerful insight into the plight facing the refugees, which takes on new, poignant meaning now the camp has been completely dismantled. All earnings from the publication will be donated to La Cimade, a French charity committed to protecting and defending the human rights of refugees and migrants.
Homes, £15, published by Loose Joints
Writer: Liberty Dye
'Erratic' art
7 November
MAC International 2016, Belfast is currently displaying Darren Harvey-Regan’s ‘The Erratics’ – an exhibition exploring the photographic and physical acts of repositioning elements from their own environment. ‘The forms exposed in their natural surroundings remain curiously abstract, while forcefully sculpted objects are balanced on the edge of the organic and abstract,’ explain the festival organisers. Harvey-Regan combines natural formations that amplify erosion by wind and sand. Split into three chapters, two of them photographic, The Erratics (Exposures) explores the monolithic chalk forms of Egypt’s Western Desert; while the artist captured The Erratics (Wrest) using singular studio sculptures. Using a large-format field camera, The Erratics (Wrest) features smooth planes and rough rocks of sculptural chalk, collected from England’s south coast. Focusing on the space between the chalk and their plinths, the sculptures’ alignment creates a two-dimensional surface in print. Until 19 February 2017.
Writer: Liberty Dye
Lagos Photo
4 November
Until 21 November, the Nigerian city of Lagos hosts the country’s international photography festival, Lagos Photo. Presently in its seventh edition, the month long programme aims to establish cross-cultural collaborations with artists, promoting the development of contemporary photography across Africa.
One of 39 participants, Italian photographer Lorenzo Vitturi is showcasing his series The Balogun Particle, depicting the urban transformation of the heart of Balogun Market in Lagos Island. Vendors set their stands around one of the skyscrapers, The Financial Trust House, located in the market’s centre. Vitturi captures the lifelessness of the building in contrast to the locals' vibrant goods and wares, in a kind of 'reverse gentrification' - where the local market is overtaking, symbolically and literally, the financial tower.
Pictured: from The Balogun Particle, by Lorenzo Vitturi, 2015 - date
Writer: Liberty Dye
Life in Qing Dynasty Shanghai: The Photographs of William Saunders
3 October
An exhibition at the China Exchange in London, 'Life in Qing Dynasty Shanghai: The Photographs of William Saunders' is a consummation of antiquarian Stephan Loewentheil’s 35-year quest to build a collection of historic photography from China.
The photographer who allowed Loewenthiel to do so, British-born William Saunders, is distinguished by his thorough documentation of Shanghai, a journey which began in 1860. However, despite this feat, this is the first exhibition of his work.
The exhibition provides a rare insight into the Chinese ‘golden age’, revealing the lost world of late Qing Dynasty Shanghai, by one of the masters of 19th century photography.
‘Life in Qing Dynasty Shanghai: The Photographs of William Saunders’ is on display at the China Exchange from 4–10 November
Pictured: Rain! by William Saunders. Courtesy of the Stephan Loewentheil Historic Photographs of China Collection
Writer: Inez Bartram Vilar
Production line
2 November
At seventeen, a young Stephen Shore made the decision to dedicate his remaining teenage years to photographing Andy Warhol’s New York Factory. The material, collected between 1965 and 1967, comprises a new photobook - Factory: Andy Warhol - released tomorrow.
Shore captured everyday life in Warhol’s Manhattan studio, developing as a photographer with every snap. The book unveils previously unpublished images of the iconic location, including portraits of Edie Sedgwick and Lou Reed. It also reveals the influence that Warhol and Shore had on each others' work. The two began collaborating artistically after Warhol invited Shore to document a film shoot in 1965 at the restaurant L’Avventura. These photographs - along with all 175 seen in the extensive book - provide insight into the collective creativity within the famous Factory walls.
Factory: Andy Warhol by Stephen Shore. Published by Phaidon, £39.95
Pictured: Rene Ricard, Susan Bottomly, Eric Emerson, unidentified woman; middle row: Mary (Might) Woronov, Andy Warhol, Ronnie Cutrone; background: Paul Morrissey, Edie Sedgwick. Paraphernalia’s opening and show (1966); clothes designer Betsey Johnson, store owner Paul Young, by Stephen Shore, 1965-7
Writer: Liberty Dye
'Becoming South Sudan'
1 November
'Becoming South Sudan', a three-part exhibition from Alinka Echeverria, captures ceremonial preparations for Independence Day in the South Sudanese capital of Juba, in June 2011. Through a series of portraits, the Mexican-born visual artist powerfully documents how the South Sudanese people use clothing, uniform and costume as an expression of identity - 'a mode of becoming'.
Echeverria's subjects are seen in military suits, police uniforms, religious garb, and even teenagers in school ties. The portraits, which vary from staged photographs to stolen family moments, convey an intimate insight into South Sudanese communities, while expressing a tense outlook on the future of the young, fragile country.
‘Becoming South Sudan’ is on view until 3 December at The Ravestijin Gallery in Amsterdam.
Pictured: Becoming South Sudan Chapter I: Portraits / Scar, by Alinka Echeverria, 2011
Writer: Liberty Dye
One Sun, One Shadow
31 October
Photographer Shane Lavalette’s first monograph – One Sun, One Shadow – explores the musical tradition of the American South.
One Sun, One Shadow was inspired by Lavalette’s 2012 series for the exhibition ‘Picturing the South’, commissioned by the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. The region’s rich musical history became an inspiration for the extension of this body of work: though he hails from the northeast, the photographer claims it was music – the sounds of old time, blues, and gospel – that consolidated his relationship with the American South.
The hardcover ‘desires to explore the relationship between traditional music and the contemporary landscape’, as Lavalette delves into analysing the power of music, and its ability to carry stories across time and space. One Sun, One Shadow also includes an essay by artist/poet Tim Davis, who describes Lavalette’s series as: ‘Quiet pictures that build to a boisterous whole. They speak from the endlessly renewed place of the photographic expeditioner who loves the world and knows it’s a well that never runs dry.'
One Sun, One Shadow, $65, will be available from 4 November. For more infomation, visit Shane Lavalette's website.
There will be a launch and signing on 4 November from 6–8PM, at Printed Matter Inc, 231 11th Avenue, New York, NY 10001.
Writer: Inez Bartram Vilar
Search and destroy
27 October
The birth of American punk is a tale of highs and lows, and the story of proto-punk icon Iggy Pop is best distilled in his own words. Born James Newell Osterberg, Jr, The Stooges frontman resonated with a generation whose social, political and moral reality was on the brink of a KO.
Total Chaos: The Story of the Stooges / As told by Iggy Pop will be released by Third Man Books on 15 November. The tome, which includes rare and unseen photographs of Iggy and company, is the result of interviews Jeff Gold and Johan Kugelberg conducted with the artist. Other contributors to the tome include Jon Savage, Dave Grohl, Jack White, and Joan Jett, who calls Iggy and The Stooges 'one of the greatest American rock bands that has ever been'.
From hiatus and back, the story of The Stooges is that of a six-stringed phoenix. And the only rightful narrator is Iggy.
Image courtesy of Jeff Gold and Johan Kugelberg
Writer: Daisy Alioto
Like a charm
26 October
Girl plays with snake - the new book by photographer Clare Strand - is a collection of images sourced from the darkest recesses of the artist’s extensive archive. Though not fond of snakes herself, Strand depicts women and girls holding, playing with and gazing at snakes. Accompanied by a medley of carefully orchestrated texts, the project is a continuation of the scrapbooks, magazines and monographs the artist has been drawing together since her mid-teens.
Strand modestly describes her working method as being like 'rolling in the grass and seeing what you pick up on your jumper'. Girl plays with snake adds to a long, eclectic list of work: from machines that encourage entropy, to web programmes, looped films and intricate photographic constructions. Despite this range of techniques, each one succeeds in focusing on, subverting, reimagining and manipulating the medium.
Girl plays with snake, published by MACK Books, €35
Pictured: Untitled, by Clare Strand. Courtesy the artist and MACK, 2016
Writer: Inez Bartram-Vilar
Divine portraits
25 October
For his new book, Face and Faith: Mount Kailash - Tibet, Hamburg-based photographer Samuel Zuder observed and documented Tibetan pilgrims, aiming to capture encounters between the human and the divine.
The book documents the circling of Mount Kailash. According to doctrine, Monks must circle the mountain 108 times in his or her lifetime, considering the origin of the universe with every turn. According to the legend, completing the mountain path in one day will bring you good fortune, but most pilgrims need two or three days to do it – the holiest of them take weeks.
In respect of this, armed with a large, analogue format camera and a tripod, Zuder employed a version of ‘slow photography’, asking individual monks for permission before taking their portrait. Because of this, a contemplative atmosphere pervades the photobook, without sacrificing the character and individuality of each worshiper. The result is a collection of highly unusual portraits. We challenge you to come away without a renewed mindfulness of your own.
Face and Faith: Mount Kailash - Tibet, published by Hatje Cantz, €58.00
Pictured: Mountain Kailash, by Samuel Zuder. Courtesy the artist
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
All eyes on Vienna
24 October
Opening tomorrow, the seventh annual Eyes On–Month of Photography Vienna sees a broad events programme and over 150 exhibitions take hold of the Austrian capital.
The sprawling show is delineated into five thematic groups, which collectively seek to ‘network audiences and artists’, says co-director Michaela Obermair. These are: ‘Thin Lines and Borders’, ‘Processing Photography’, ‘Flash! Boom! Bang!’, ‘This Beast Called Beauty’ and ‘Beyond Time’, each exploring different idiosyncratic aspects of fine art and documentary photography. The exhibitions will be on display until the end of November in museums, galleries and independent spaces.
The overall banner of the European Month of Photography also incorporates festivals in Athens, Berlin, Bratislava, Budapest, Ljubljana, Luxembourg and Paris, looking to strength European photography ties by creating cross-country creative networks.
Pictured: A Man Feeding Swans in the Snow, from the series Simple World, by Marcin Ryczek, at the Polish Institute, Vienna. Copyright Marcin Ryczek, im Polnischen Institut Wien
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
Tools of investigation
21 October
‘The use of the camera has always been for me a tool of investigation, a reason to travel, to not mind my own business, and often to get into trouble.’ So said Danny Lyon, the work of whom will be on view at London’s Beetles + Huxley Gallery from the 26 October. The American documentary photographer utilises an approach known as 'New Journalism', in which he took an active part in his subjects’ lives.
The exhibition will be divided into a variety of sections, opening with a selection of photographs taken during the Civil Rights Movement. Lyon was heavily involved with the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, and donated funds from the sale of his pictures to the cause.
Lyon also explored biker culture in the America Midwest, working in particular with the Chicago Outlaw Motorcycle club in the period 1963–1967; and developed a series on Texas prisoners in 1967–68. Speaking about the latter project, Lyon said, ‘I tried with whatever power I had to make a picture of imprisonment as distressing as I know it to be in reality.’
‘Danny Lyon’ runs from 25 October until 26 November.
Pictured: Two Years, Burglary, 1968. Copyright Danny Lyon, courtesy of Beetles + Huxley
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
California’s golden decade
19 October
The Golden Decade: Photography at the California School of Fine Arts 1945–1955 is a new documentary photobook by William Heick, Ira H Latour and C Cameron Macauley, and edited by Ken Ball and his wife Victoria Whyte Ball.
The book’s titular ‘Golden Decade’ corresponds with the post-war period during which Ansel Adams was hired by San Francisco’s California School of Fine Arts to create one of the first fine art photography schools in the country (Heick, Latour and Macauley subsequently studied under Adams and Minor White). The school was resolutely avant-garde and unmatched in the quality of its faculty – luminaries such as Edward Weston, Dorothea Lange and Imogen Cunningham were also present.
The Golden Decade: Photography at the California School of Fine Arts 1945-1955, €58, is published by Steidl.
Pictured: Dancing at a Joint in the Bayview District, San Francisco, CA, by David Johnson, 1957
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
Modern folk tales
18 October
Laura Pannack’s ‘Youth Without Age, Life Without Death: Chapter 1’ is a project about Romania, ‘a photographic exploration of the fragility of life’ and a delve into the country’s idiosyncratic rural folklore. This exhibition – opening Saturday at the Francesca Maffeo Gallery in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, until 23 December – is the first chapter of a larger body of work exploring the Balkan region.
‘I needed to escape, to begin an adventure in my search for meaningful answers,’ explains the London-based photographer of its genesis. She chose Romania because its 'hazy purple evening light and untouched land allowed me to gather my thoughts. I began to think about how I could visually explore the idea of life and death, that is when I stumbled across the folk tale “Youth Without Age and Life Without Death”.’ The works subsequently explore themes of time, journeys and life cycles.
Pannack’s images include landscapes, still life and portraits shot on expired film, colliding reality and fantasy with a particularly poetic nuance.
Photography copyright Laura Pannack, courtesy Francesca Maffeo Gallery
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
Life on the road
17 October
Opening this Wednesday (19 October) at Chelsea's Proud Galleries, 'Around the World in 80 Years: Photographs by Bill Wyman' is an immersive behind-the-scenes show of works by the erstwhile Rolling Stones bassist (and a celebration of the man's 80th birthday).
Wyman's love of photography was solidified at a young age, after being given a camera by his uncle. Joining the Rolling Stones in 1962, he documented life on the road and in the studio, creating a survey of the band that remains unsurpassed in its candid intimacy. For this show – a defacto return to the Stones' ground-zero of King's Road – Wyman has hand-picked a number of his favourite images, including a shot of Mick Jagger reading the Bible before a concert for the blind and photographs featuring luminaries and peers such as the late David Bowie.
'Around the World in 80 Years: Photographs by Bill Wyman' is on view until 27 November.
Photography © 2016 Bill Wyman Archive (Bill Wyman/Ripple Productions Ltd)
Writer: Tom Howells
‘Flesh & Blood’ in Foligno
14 October
Until 6 November, the Italian city of Foligno will play host to seven photographic exhibtions linked by the theme ‘Flesh & Blood – Affari di famiglia’ (‘Flesh & Blood – Family Business'). Therein, the artists on view explore ideas of family and how this concept can rapidly change with time.
With his work ‘La Famille’, Alain Laboile shows the life of his family in the French countryside. As a flipside to that bucolic existence, ‘Shane and Maggie’ is a project about domestic abuse by American photographer Sara Lewkowicz, who is also showing ‘Emily and Kate, Eddie and Reid’, a project about pregnancy and unconventional family life. Paolo Pellegrin’s ‘Sevla’, meanwhile, describes the relationship between the gypsy community and the city of Rome.
Other projects on view include ‘Inheritance’ by Andrea Stern, Nicoletta Cotechini’s ‘Up-rooted’ and ‘Gombe Family Album’ by Anup Shah and Fiona Rogers.
Pictured: Sevla by Paolo Pellegrin. Courtesy the artist
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
Sicily’s shadows
13 October
Opening tonight at The Print Space in Shoreditch, ‘Terra Nostra’ is a solo exhibition by Mimi Mollica about Sicily and the persistent presence of the Cosa Nostra Mafia on the island. Though a London resident for 20 years, Mollica still identifies strongly with his homeland despite the entrenched realities of injustice and inequality.
‘Mimi Mollica has returned time and time again to his native Sicily to observe its landscape of shadows and light, its everyday rituals and its sense of cultural and political stasis,’ says journalist Sean O’Hagan of the Italian photographer’s work. ‘His photographs are often formally austere and his approach oblique rather than direct. This is a Sicily shadowed by its own reputation, a place at once familiar and unknowable, traced in metaphor and suggestion by Mollica's patient, attentive and often clandestine eye.’
'Terra Nostra' is on view until 18 October.
Photography courtesy the artist
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
Man of the people
12 October
Born in 1921, Seydou Keïta was a Malian photographer, who began his career taking pictures of his relatives, and strangers he met in the street. He opened his first studio in 1948: ‘All the elite in Bamako came to be photographed by me: government workers, shop owners, politicians. Everyone passed through my studio at one time or another,’ the artist once said. He kept a private practice until 1962, when he was invited to become the newly independent country’s official government photographer. Though he retired in 1977, he later became one of the best-known African photographers in Europe after the curator and dealer Andre Magnin 'discovered him' in 1991. Keïta died in 2001 in Paris.
His work is currently featured in ‘African Portraits’, a group show also including works by Aida Muluneh, Omar Victor Diop, Malick Sidibé and JD Okhai Ojeikere. The exhibition runs until 4 November at HackelBury Fine Art Gallery, London.
Pictured: Untitled – Lovely Daughter, 1949–1951. Copyright the artist. Courtesy HackelBury Fine Art, London
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
Uncontaminated in Oslo
11 October
Opening tomorrow is the second edition of Uncontaminated: Oslo Fashion Art Festival.
The three-day festival will see more then 20 exhibitions, talks, pop-up events and concerts take place around the city, including a photography exhibition, ‘The Collective’, featuring the work of Arielle Chiara, Amanda Charchian, Lea Colombo, Charlie Engman, Isabel Martinez, Synchrodogs and Petra Collins.
The ascendant Canadian-Hungarian artist Petra Collins has been heralded by numerous art and culture magazines as one to watch; as the founder of The Ardorous art collective she seeks to empower young female artists in collaborative work and help disseminate their work. Her own images, colourful and full of soft light, are immediately recognisable – ‘raw and realistic, yet sensual and toned down’, explain the festival organisers.
Running until 14 October, the festival is curated by Hilde Pettersen Reljin and Rita Mostrøm Larsen of creative agency NOIONE, in collaboration with Riccardo Ruini of the REM Ruini e Mariotti advertising agency.
Photography courtesy Petra Collins
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
Platinum prints
10 October
London’s Atlas gallery is currently playing host to ‘Platinum’ – an exhibition surveying platinum print work, demonstrating the beauty and versatility of the photographic production technique.
The show features images by a host of international photographers from across the 20th century, including fashion photography by Irving Penn, landscapes by George Tice and still life work by Imogen Cunningham, among many others.
Cunningham (whose Magnolia Blossom is pictured above) learned the platinum technique while working in the Seattle portrait studio of Edward S Curtis. The American photographer wrote her thesis 'About Self-Production of Platinum Papers for Brown Tones' in order to demonstrate the artistic benefits of the process.
‘Platinum’ is on view until 19 November.
Pictured: Magnolia Blossom, by Imogen Cunningham, 1925. Copyright the artist
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
Photaumnales: Love Stories
7 October
This weekend marks the opening of the 13th edition of Photaumnales. This year's offering, entitled 'Love Stories', promises to ‘nourish and enliven’, exploring the realm of love without borders.
With a roster including acclaimed photographers Robert Montgomery, Lauren Fleishman, Malick Sidibé, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Janet Biggs, whose displayed work fully embraces the theme with uncalculating openness.
In a tense and turbulent world, the exhibition attempts to focus on open-mindedness, highlighting how artistic expression can contribute to the construction of tolerance. As curators Paul Ardenne and Barbara Polla state, ‘What matters here is instinct, drive, feeling – not what draws the drive, not the object of the feeling. Love is a sensation first, becoming a concept only afterwards.’
The 'Photaumnales: Love Stories' will be on view from 8 October – 1 December at Le Quadrilatère, 22 rue Saint-Pierre à Beauvais.
Pictured: The Lovers, Lauren Fleishman, 2014
Writer: Inez Bartram Vilar
'Feminist Avant-Garde of the 1970s'
6 October
Opening tomorrow at the Photographers’ Gallery, 'Feminist Avant-Garde of the 1970s' is an expansive exhibition comprising 48 female artists and over 200 works from the Sammlung Verbund collection in Vienna.
The exhibition is an ode to the groundbreaking practices that shaped the feminist art movement. In addition to works by internationally-acclaimed photographers such as Cindy Sherman, Valie Export and Francesca Woodman, the show provides a rare opportunity to explore the practices of artists such as Katalin Ladik, Nil Yalter and Birgit Jürgenssen.
The exhibition comprises photographs, collage work, performances, films and videos produced throughout the 1970s. It reflects the wider public discourse of the time, when gender equality and civil rights movements were on the rise. Artistic expression meant female artists were ‘galvanised to use their work as a further means of engagement’, fundamentally addressing and reshaping the social conventions surrounding women in the art industries.
The exhibition is organised into four themes: 'Domestic Agenda', 'The Seductive Body: Sexuality and Objectification', 'In My Skin: Normative Beauty and the Limits of the Body' and 'Alter Ego: Masquerade, Parody and Self-Representation'.
‘Feminist Avant-Garde of the 1970s: Works from the Verbund Collection’ will be on view from 7 October – 15 January 2017.
Pictured: Self-deceit #1, by Francesca Woodman, 1978/1979. Courtesy George and Betty Woodman, New York/The Sammlung Verbund Collection, Vienna
Writer: Inez Vilar
Mid-century Mali
5 October
Opening tomorrow as part of Somerset House’s ‘1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair’, Malick Sidibé’s ‘The Eye of Modern Mali’ is the late photographer’s first UK solo showing. The exhibition features 45 black and white original prints shot in Bamako – the Malian capital – from the 1960s and 1970s.
The exposition, curated by André Magnin and Philippe Boutté, revolves around three themes: ‘Au Fleuve Niger / Beside the Niger River’, ‘Tiep à Bamako / Nightlife in Bamako’ and ‘Le Studio / The Studio’. Across these, Sidibé has documented the life and times of his city in a period of fast-paced cultural and social change.
Sibidé, who died in April this year, was the first African artist – and, broadly, photographer – to be awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale. He also received The Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography in 2003 and the Arts and Entertainment category at the World Press Photo competition in 2010.
‘Malick Sidibé: The Eye of Modern Mali’ will be on view from 6 October – 15 January 2017.
Pictured: Les Retrouvailles au bord du fleuve Niger, by Malick Sidibé, 1974. Courtesy the artist and Galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
The camera on camera
4 October
‘The Camera Exposed’ is a photographic exhibition about photography – exploring the camera itself as subject. Further significance is afforded by its being held at the Victoria & Albert Museum, the first institution to collect and exhibit photography as an art form.
Nowadays, the proliferation of smartphones has made photography an egalitarian act, with the traditional analog camera used less and less. ‘The Camera Exposed’ shows more than 57 works by known artists. These include portraits of famous photographers with their cameras – Bill Brandt, Paul Strand and Weegee among them – as well as self-portraits by Eve Arnold, Lee Friedlander and André Kertész, images of cameras without their owners and a host of new acquisitions.
‘The Camera Exposed’ is on view until 5 March 2017.
Pictured: Bill Brandt with his Kodak Wide-Angle Camera, by Laelia Goehr . Courtesy Alexander Goehr
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
‘At Land, At Bloom’
3 October
Comprising a temporary exhibition and store opening this Wednesday in Melbourne, ‘At Land, at Bloom’ is a collaboration between Lauren Cassar – artist, textile designer and founder of Australian clothing brand Mirador – and Victoria Zschommler, a still life, beauty and fashion photographer. Together, the launch is ‘a joint celebration of the essence of nature and our cherished interactions within it’, says the duo.
‘At Land’ is the launch of Cassar’s third collection, the designer’s exploration of the sarong as a ‘wearable artwork’; while ‘At Bloom’ is a series of still life photographs by Zschommler. All the photos of Simone Gooch floral arrangements were taken in London at the beginning of 2016; therein, the photographer references the Japanese art of Ikebana. Each image is available in an edition of ten.
The exhibition-cum-store will be on view in Melbourne from 5–10 October, before moving to Sydney from 1–4 December.
For more information, visit Mirador or Victoria Zschommler.
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
Fringe cut
30 September
The Brighton Photo Fringe (BPF) opens tomorrow. The seventh edition of the biennial presents over 200 artists, whose works will be exposed in over 40 venues across the city. The festival will be also joined by Fotopub in Slovenia, Cork Photo located in Ireland and the French festival Diep-Haven.
The BPF is one of the largest and well-known festivals in UK because of its inclusivity - its aim is to support and connect early-career artists to international audiences. What’s more, all the photographers and lens based artists have self-curated their collections. This year, Dana Ariel’s work won the OPEN16 SOLO, selected via LensCulture.
The BFP also includes a rich program of events including panel discussions, workshops, talks, guided tours and the 22 and the 23 October will take place the Photo Publishers’ Market.
The BPF is supported by Metro Imaging and the Brighton Photo Biennal, and it runs until 30 October.
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
Joanna Piotrowska's personal space
28 September
This Friday sees the opening of 'Frantic', the first solo exhibition by the Polish artist Joanna Piotrowska at Lisbon's Madragoa gallery, which runs until 5 November.
Piotrowska's project focuses on the practice of building shelters, and all that encompasses – transcending the childhood experience of creating small personal spaces ('localised utopias', as Foucault put it), to incorporate the persistent desire of adolescents and adults for a defined home, as well as the topical notion of immigrants and the homeless 'searching for a lair in the rips of the urban fabric', says the gallery.
For 'Frantic' the photographer asked her subjects to erect personal shelters inside their own apartments or gardens, using furniture as architectural ballast. Within these, they were to include a selection of objects they couldn't live without. The result is a survey of bizarre constructions, simultaneously reflective of the personalities of those that built them and, when the creator is present, occasionally disturbing in their photographed forms – the particular use of the flash flattens the images, human bodies becoming inanimate objects trapped in too-small spaces.
For more information, visit the Madragoa gallery's website.
Pictured: Frantic, by Joanna Piotrowska. Courtesy the artist and Madragoa, Lisbon
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
Gregory Halpern’s city survey
29 September
‘Beauty and its implication of promise is the metaphor that gives art its value. It helps us rediscover some of our best intuitions, the ones that encourage caring.’ So says Robert Adams of ZZYZX – a new book by American photographer Gregory Halpern, available this month from MACK.
Here, Halpern focuses his lens on the sublime, contradictory extremes of California, where 'the beautiful sits next to the ugly, the redemptive next to the despairing, and all under a strange and singular light as transcendent as it is harsh’, explains the publisher.
His photographs begin in the desert east of Los Angeles, segueing through the city and on to the Pacific. It is a journey, and Halpern’s talent is in his affording of a voice to the places, people and animals that have been transfigured into his surreal survey.
ZZYZX, £35, available from MACK.
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
EMOP 2016 hits Berlin
27 September
Opening on 1 October, Berlin’s European Month of Photography (EMOP) is Germany’s largest photography festival.
For this year’s edition, the festival jury chose a total of 130 exhibition projects from 120 institutions, across myriad themes and manifestations. They will be exhibited at outdoor spaces, museums, cultural institutions, galleries, project spaces, embassies and a photography school.
The festival also offers a large range of events, including talks, workshops, lectures and screenings. Particularly interesting are 'Book Days', during which 30 international publishers will show recent works; and 'Portfolio Reviews', wherein students, photographers and artists will have the opportunity to show their work to a panel of international experts.
The festival will run until 31 October.
Pictured: CPV-Japanische Orte-Skowron Sashiogi, by Wojtek Skowron, 2015. Courtesy the artist
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
Photography past and present in Tokyo
26 September
This Friday sees the opening of the third edition of the Daikanyama Photo Fair, organised by the Fine-Art Photography Association (FAPA) in Tokyo. The festival, on view until the 2 October, sees myriad Japanese artists, galleries, bookstores and publishers present a range of work both historical and contemporary.
Concurrent with the 2016 edition, FAPA launches an exhibition series called 'The Photobook'. Providing a history of Japanese photobooks, the series explores the proliferation of this now ubiquitous trend. The programme includes lectures by both Japanese and international curators and critics, photobook relay talks and a children’s workshops.
The Daikanyama Photo Fair will run from 30 September – 2 October. Exhibitors included Taka Ishii Gallery, Mörel Books, MACK, Komiyama Tokyo, Zen Foto Gallery and many more.
Pictured: Geisha, Izunagaoka, by Kikuji Kawada, 1952. Copyright Kikuji Kawada. Courtesy of PGI
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
Questions and answers?
23 September
'All these images were made to illustrate a fact,' explains the Michael Hoppen Gallery in London, preceding the opening of a new show, 'The Image As Question: An Exploration of Evidential Photography'.
The exhibition explores the entrenched documentative potential of photography – as a record of crime scenes, science, art, biology, exploration and fashion – across works drawn from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. Most were never intended to be viewed in a gallery context; they are merely 'proof' of things happening, created to 'prove a point, solve a mystery or simply to inform with clarity' – though the composition and aesthetic of the chosen examples is meticulous.
Melanie Einzig's September 11th, New York, NY 2001 is a case in point – both visceral and banal, it's an unprecedented scene caught absolutely in the moment and retrospectively loaded with meaning.
Pictured: September 11th, New York, NY 2001, by Melanie Einzig, 2001. Copyright the artist
Writer: Tom Howells
Joël Tettamanti presents 'Kobo' in Lesotho
22 September
To call Swiss photographer Joël Tettamanti's practice 'one-track' is doing it a great disservice. From the start, he has focused on the transformation of global landscapes by human intervention. Opening tomorrow at Alliance Française in Maseru, Lesotho, 'Kobo' is a photographic survey of the country's Basotho people (and his second on the south African enclave).
The images particularly focus on the 'covers' (or 'kobo' in Sesotho) of the community – the elaborate forms of clothing that replaced their traditional animal skins when Lesotho was colonised by Europeans in the 19th century. They perform myriad functions: as gifts during rituals (rites of passage and birth among them) and in the preparation of beer and tobacco, as well as generating heat (an emblem of transformation). They are also printed with symbolic motifs; vertical lines, for instance, indicate growth and prosperity.
Crucially, the covers are a vanishing symbol of traditional life, increasingly worn only in rural areas. The region is both under-populated and under-built, says the gallery; Tettamanti's gravitation to 'the human presence in the landscape' expresses his extant interests.
Photography courtesy the artist
Writer: Tom Howells
Piece of mind
21 September
The Kentucky-born photographer Stacy Kranitz has, for the past six years, dedicated her practice to exploring the Appalachian regions of the United States.
As it was Give(n) to Me – the corresponding body of imagery, text, drawings and objects that she has compiled on the area – has now been used to create a publication, entitled Speak Your Piece. The book amalgamates her photographs of Appalachia with entries to a local reader-contributed newspaper column, which cover issues as diverse as drug use, the coal industry, love and loneliness, providing a singular insight into both rural mountain life and the minutae of the human experience.
'When I read the column, I think about my photographs and what I want for them,' says Kranitz. 'I hope they bear witness in a way that is both extraordinarily specific and universal. I hope that they offer a narrative as bold and heart-felt as the contributions to the column selected for this book.'
Speak Your Piece, £30, published by Here Press.
Photography copyright the artist
Writer: Tom Howells
Parafin gallery puts Soviet history on a ‘Pedestal’
20 September
Opening Thursday at London’s Parafin gallery, ‘Pedestal’ is a new exhibition of work by Indrė Šerpytytė. The Lithuanian artist’s first solo show with the gallery will feature photographs, archival imagery and sculpture – presented alongside a new audio piece – to explore themes of history and trauma.
For Šerpytytė, photography is ‘as an emotional expression rather than a documentation process’. The work that comprises ‘Pedestal’ looks at how the past affects the present, by juxtaposing in collage form archival images of statues of Lenin and Stalin located in the public spaces of her country. The photographer is fascinated by the recent past of Lithuania, in particular its conflicts – the Second World War, the Cold War, the decades of Soviet control and ‘war after war’ time.
The photographic exhibition is accompanied by the aforementioned audio project, Toppled. The artist worked with a professional narrator, who presented the idea behind the pictures without emotional inflection in order to create an unexpected and surreal atmosphere.
‘Pedestal’ is on view at the Parafin gallery from 23 September – 12 November.
Pictured: Pedestal, Girls, by Indrė Šerpytytė, 2016. Copyright the artist. Courtesy Parafin, London
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
Chris Steele-Perkins' 'The Teds' at Magnum Print
19 September
For the first time in nearly 40 years, Chris Steele-Perkins' 'The Teds' will take over London's Magnum Print Room.
Alongside the iconic vintage prints – including eight previously unseen photographs from his archive – a platinum print of the cover image from his landmark book, first published in 1979 and from which the exhibition takes its name, will also be on show.
Working with writer Richard Smith, the duo documented the phenomenon of Ted culture across the UK in the 1970s; Smith through his words and Steele-Perkins with his camera. Capturing the distinctive fashion of the movement – the gravity-defying quiffs, bone-crushing brother creepers and drainpipe trousers – Steele-Perkins famously also captured the way in which the youth culture of the time interacted with its environs, be it a dance hall, the pub, the suburban home or seaside promenades.
In the wake of the arrival of Bill Haley's film Rock Around the Clock, the Teds were taking over. 'They had found their identities in the gangs,' writes Smith. 'They had moved from the back-streets to the housing estates and headlines. And they did it to the back-beat of Rock ’n’ Roll.’
‘The Teds’ will be on view from 21 September until 28 October. A revised, larger-format edition of the book has just been published by Dewi Lewis.
Pictured: GB. England. Adam and Eve pub in Hackney, 1976. Copyright Chris Steele-Perkins/Magnum Photos
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
Bruce Gilden returns to Detroit
16 September
Opening tomorrow at Leica Gallery Mayfair, 'Detroit: Against the Wind' comprises over 20 images taken by Magnum photographer Bruce Gilden over the past year.
Gilden’s exhibition, commissioned by Leica UK, is an ode to the Midwestern city and its inhabitants, and follows the artist’s 2009 Detroit series, which documented foreclosed homes and their owners.
Originally trained as a sociologist, Gilden is inspired by the beauty in this ‘apocalyptic’ city, one that was previously considered a ‘shining example of the American Middle Class’. The monochromatic series expounds Gilden’s fascination with Detroit, and his mission to capture the spirit of the city.
'No matter how down at the heel some of this city’s people are, they remain vibrant and alive,' he explains. 'They’re tough. To survive in this city, you need to be. I instantly felt an affinity with the women and men I photographed in Detroit; a black Muslim selling newspapers, an ex-junkie, a church goer, a prostitute, a blues singer who had seen better days… The work I have been doing there is an ode to the city and its people.'
‘Detroit: Against the Wind’ is on view until 6 October.
Pictured left and right: Untitled, Detroit, USA, 2016. Copyright Bruce Gilden / Magnum Photos
Writer: Inez Bartram Vilar
Unseen Photo Festival opens in Amsterdam
15 September
Opening tomorrow, Amsterdam’s Unseen Photo Festival will see collaborations with institutions, educational groups, photographers and artists, as well as localised initiatives across the city.
This year, the festival will be set within the historic Spaarndammerbuurt district, with its epicentre at the Museum Het Schip. In reference to the latter – which recently saw a new wing opened to explore Dutch artisanal practice – the fair will see an exhibition held on the topical trend of craftsmanship in contemporary photography, curated by Anton Corbijn.
Elsewhere, Unseen sees exhibitions by the festival’s campaign managers, Christto & Andrew (entitled ‘The Politics of Sport’), and on Japanese photography, selfie projects, artist’s recipes, the opportunity to have one’s portrait shot by master photographer Koos Breukel and a host of related lectures and shows across myriad collaborating cultural institutions.
Unseen Photo Festival is on view until 25 September.
Pictured: A Telepathic Subject, by Christto & Andrew, 2016. Copyright Christto & Andrew
Writer: Tom Howells
Edward Burtynsky at Flowers Gallery
14 September
Opening this Friday at London’s Flowers Gallery, ‘Salt Pans’ and ‘Essential Elements’ comprise a duo of solo shows by Edward Burtynsky.
In essence, Burtynsky’s abstract aerial photographs map the human transformation of the landscape, documenting the consequences of industrial processes and manufacturing. They present an unsettling contradiction – between the aesthetic appeal of the images and the profound ecological concerns they expose.
'Salt Pans' graces the Lower gallery. These images are composed topographically, exposing a network of wells, pans and vehicle tracks.
In the Upper gallery, 'Essential Elements' comprises of a selection of photographs that act as journey through Burtynsky's past projects, Oil, Water, China, Manufactured Landscapes and Quarries, drawing on the core themes that mark his entire oeuvre.
The exhibition is held in correlation with the release of a corresponding new book, which comprises an overview of his work over the past four decades. Edward Burtynsky: Essential Elements is edited and curated by William A Ewing and published by Thames & Hudson.
‘Salt Pans’ and ‘Essential Elements’ are on view until 29 October.
Pictured: Edward Burtynsky, Silver Lake Operations #1, Lake Lefroy, Western Australia, 2007, (c) Edward Burtynsky, Courtesy of Flowers Gallery, London and Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto
Writer: Inez Bartram Vilar
Ata Kandó - I Shall Use My Time’
13 September
The Hungarian-born Dutch photographer Ata Kandó (b.1913) initially trained as a painter at Budapest’s Bortnyik School, though she quickly segued into photography after acquiring a camera. She subsequently worked as a lab technician for Magnum; produced series on young mothers during the Hungarian Uprising, Indian communities in South America and a plethora of personal projects focusing on her loved ones; and became active in photography education. Now 102, she resides in a Bergen care home, often visited by a younger generation of photographers in thrall to her skill and reputation.
Kandó’s inspirational career is now being explored with a major retrospective at the Nederlands Fotomuseum, entitled ’Ata Kandó - I Shall Use My Time’, curated by Koos Breukel and Rose Ieneke van Kalsbeek. As well as featuring a wealth of her intimate portraits, the exhibition also features her seminal series Droom in het woud (’Dream in the forest’) and Kalypso & Nausikaä.
’Ata Kandó – I Shall Use My Time’ is on view until 1 January 2017.
Pictured: Madeleine Kandó, from the series Droom in het woud, Switzerland 1955. Copyright Ata Kandó / collection Nederlands Fotomuseum. Courtesy Kahmann Gallery Amsterdam
Writer: Tom Howells
Ai Weiwei at Foam
12 September
Opening this Friday at Amsterdam’s Foam, ‘#Safe Passage’ is a new exhibition by artist and activist Ai Weiwei.
The show is divided into two parts. The first sees Weiwei survey his personal experience of life under the close surveillance of the Chinese government, exploring the way he used self-portraiture and social media as a means of defining his freedom of expression.
The second focuses on the artist’s personal affinity with migrants and refugees. After spending time in Lesbos, Weiwei travelled around the Mediterranean in an attempt to document this contemporary socio-political crisis. Through this, he presents the grim reality of the migrant risking their lives to reach Europe, only to be met with further isolation, xenophobia and arduous bureaucratic procedure when they reach the continent. Again, social media is a crucial aspect of his practice; his Instagram feed ‘has functioned as a de facto real-time newswire’ in his travels, the gallery explains.
‘#Safe Passage’ will be on view from 16 September until 7 December.
Pictured: Incoming refugee boat, Lesbos, Greece, 17 February 2016. Copyright Ai Weiwei Studio
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
Shore thing
9 September
Opening tomorrow at Huis Marseille in Amsterdam, ‘Shores Like You’ is the new solo exhibition by Scarlett Hooft Graafland, which presents photographs taken in remote, isolated locations.
The title of the exhibition takes inspiration from Baudelaire’s famous poem Invitation to the Voyage. Hooft Graafland works most of the time with unspoiled vistas (Vanuatu, Socotra, and in the Red Dunes of Dubai), and, as in the poem, uninterrupted shorelines feature prominently. She is influenced by these places, but also by stories found there – the Dutch photographer's work wouldn't be possible without close collaboration with local people.
The atmosphere evoked by Hooft Graafland is reminiscent of fairy tales. But there’s also an air of seriousness – the photographer is interested in contemporary global problems, like climate change and migration issues, two themes that are well covered by this exhibition.
Pictured: Burka Balloons, 2014. Copyright the artist
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
Artist on artist
8 September
Paper Journal, the online visual arts magazine launched in 2013 by Patricia Karallis, is turning three, and the Webber Space Gallery in London is hosting an exhibition to celebrate.
In line with the magazine’s collaborative approach, Karallis called upon the 350 artists featured on the site since it’s conception to help curate the exhibition. Each artist picked two of their favourite Paper Journal artists, and those with the most votes ended up being featured in the Webber Represents show.
The chosen 12 photographers include international talent like David Brandon, Heikki Kaski and Natalie Krick. If this diverse, vibrant selection is anything to go by, the next three years will be just as fruitful and engaging as the last.
The exhibition opens tomorrow, and is on view until 23 September.
Photography: The Unseen, by Tereza Zelenkova, 2015
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
Out of Africa
7 September
Opening tomorrow at London’s October Gallery, ‘Daniele Tamagni and James Barnor’ is a two-man exhibition by a duo of photographers equally enamoured of Africa, colour and fashion.
Tamagni – an Italian practitioner trained in art history – has traveled worldwide to document fashion’s vivid subcultures. He won the Canon Young Photographer Award in 2007 with his project Sapeurs of Brazzaville about Congolese dandies, and in 2010 received the ICP, Infinity Award, fashion category.
Barnor – born in Accra, Ghana, in 1929 – had a swift professional ascent, working for the Daily Graphic and, after moving to the UK in 1959, photographing international models in London for Drum, the influential anti-apartheid magazine. His portraits, the gallery explains, ‘depict the self-assurance and individualistic fashion trends that dominated at the time’.
The exhibition is on view until 30 September.
Photography: Untitled #4 (Sick-Hagemeyer shop assistant, Accra), by James Barnor, 1971. Courtesy Autograph ABP
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
Festival Images Vevy, Switzerland
6 September
This Saturday sees the opening of the fifth edition of Switzerland’s Festival Images Vevey, on view until 2 October. The festival – the country’s first biennale of visual arts – is set, as always, to transform the town into an open-air museum, presenting original photographic exhibitions in unusual venues, both indoors and out.
Festival Images Vevey will see 75 projects by artists hailing from 15 different countries, including major names such as Hans-Peter Feldmann, Alec Soth, Mat Collishaw, Graciela Iturbide, Guido Mocafico, Christian Patterson, Martin Parr and James Casebere.
The theme this year is ‘immersion’. The concept is inevitably broad, literally evoking the act of developing analog photographs (now evaporated into a digital ‘cloud’); as well as the analogous idea of a photographer immersing themselves within an approach or artistic environment, aquatic or otherwise.
Take the work of Japanese artist Asako Narahashi, for instance. Narahashi interpreted the theme via photographs of Japan’s coastline and its natural architectural symbols – images showing the connection between earth and water and the relation between seasickness and ‘the pleasure of floating freely’.
Pictured: half awake and half asleep in the water, by Asako Narahashi, 2003. Copyright the artist. Courtesy Osiris Co
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
Summer snaps
5 September
The second edition of the photobook festival 'Gazebook' opens this Friday in Sicily, curated by Teresa Bellina, Simone Sapienza and Melissa Carnemolla.
As last year, the festival will be located in Punta Secca, and presents a range of different events nightly, until 11 September. Focusing on the growing medium of contemporary photography books, visitors have the chance to meet a host of national and international photographers, curators, editors and publishers.
Entirely free, the exhibitions, open air installations and talks will be located all around the picturesque Sicilian village. What's more, 'Gazebook' promises to be a feast for the eyes and the stomach, with local Sicilian delicacies on offer throughout the area.
Martin Parr, president of Magnum photo agency, will bring festivities to a close with a retrospective dedicated to his most celebrated books, including Last Resort and Common Sense.
Photography: Martin Parr
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
Cold case
2 September
Jack Latham is the second recipient of the Photographers’ Gallery’s Bar Tur Photobook Award. The award sees the Welsh photographer given the opportunity to work with an independent publisher to create his first book.
Sugar Paper Theories is the result. Published in collaboration between the Gallery and Here Press, the book explores the 1974 Guðmundur and Geirfinnur Case. A still-unsolved Icelandic murder case, the crime saw six people testify to the murders of 18-year-old Guðmundur Einarsson and 32-year-old Geirfinnur Einarsson – two cases set ten months and 50km apart, with no apparent connection. A year later, Saevar Ciesielski and Erla Bolladottir were arrested for an unrelated crime, but confessed to the murders, as well as fingering three male friends and another acquaintance. The catch? All six of the self-implicated claimed no memory of the crime.
Following their sentences and convictions, details pertaining to physical and mental torture of the suspects were released and, in 2011, a government task force declared the six confessions unreliable and recommended the trial was re-set.
In his book, Latham uses a mix of archival police images and material, photographs of spectral and desolated landscapes, and pictures of suspects’ diary entries to survey one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in the history of the Icelandic legal system.
Sugar Paper Theories, £35, will be formally launched at a ceremony at The Photographers’ Gallery on 6 September.
Pictured: Stockfish, by Jack Latham, 2014. Copyright Jack Latham. Courtesy the artists / INSTITUTE
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
Lay of the land
1 September
Bringing Richard Saltoun Gallery’s four-show run of exhibitions devoted to British conceptual art of the 1960s and 70s to a close is a double header exploring the work of Ed Herring and Roger Palmer.
Herring, who died in 2003, was a land artist who came to prominence in the 1960s for his ‘environmental statements’, as well as the documentation he made of his practice. This manifested itself in the depleting bird seed of 1969’s Bird Grid and his measurements of oil absorbed by the ground in the same year’s Oiled Earth, among others – works rooted in both ecological and ethical socio-cultural concerns.
Palmer, on the other hand, combined text and image to turn traditional notions of landscape on its head, surveying how a reading of a photograph – silver gelatin iterations in his case – can be altered by accompanying information.
‘Some Dimensions of my Lunch: Conceptual Art in Britain. Part 4: Ed Herring & Roger Palmer’ is on view until 28 September.
Pictured: Maryport Workington Whitehaven (Industrial towns on the Solway Firth), by Roger Palmer, 1979
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
Marc Riboud, 1923–2016
31 August
Following a long illness, Magnum photographer Marc Riboud passed away yesterday, Tuesday 30 August. He was 93.
Born in 1923 in Saint-Genis-Leval, Riboud discovered his passion for photography at the age of 14, when he received a Vest Pocket Kodak as a birthday present from his father.
He joined Magnum in 1953, personally invited by Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Capa upon seeing his first published image in Life Magazine. He subsequently published more than 30 books, and travelled globally, initially across the Middle East, Afghanistan and India, to China and onwards to Japan (as well as working in the USSR, Europe and the United States). He produced seminal work on the Cultural Revolution in China and surveyed wars in Algeria and Vietnam.
Says Magnum Photos president Martin Parr, ‘Marc’s association with Magnum has been a long and fruitful one. He was a terrific photographer and of particular note was his pioneering work in China, which he first visited in the late 1950s, and continued to photograph over the next three decades. Our thoughts and best wishes go out to his family.’
Photography copyright Bruno Barbey /Magnum Photos
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
Life in the background
30 August
Now on view at Warsaw’s Zacheta Project Room, ‘I like you, I like you a lot and others’ is the inaugural solo exhibition by Polish-born, London-based photographer Alicja Dobrucka.
In 2008, she began constructing I like you, I like you a lot, a project reflecting on her 13-year-old brother Maks, who tragically drowned on a scouting trip. Over the ensuing years, Dobrucka focused her attention on Maks’ friends, exploring their obsessions with American action films, turning a rumination on family grief into an objective survey on one of the brashest veins of Western pop culture.
The role of the landscape, too, is crucial here, Dobrucka using it to represent personal feelings and to reflect the atmosphere of provincial Poland during the post-communist transformation period.
The show’s second series, Scenery, was realised in Mumbai, and documents the wealth of backdrops used by Indian portrait photographers (a kind of ‘archaeology of the everyday’ the gallery explains).
‘I like you, I like you a lot and others’ is on view until 16 October.
Pictured: from the series I like you, I like you a lot
Writer: Sara Tagliorett
Visa pour l'image
26 August
This weekend, Perpignan welcomes the largest photojournalism festival in the world to its galleries, open-air cinemas and streets.
The annual festival, which continues until 11 September, presents a range of anthology style exhibitions of renowned photographers' work, with an emphasis on those who go where others won't, to report on war, the environment, religious issues and social phenomena.
The organisers and curators have worked hard to create a throng of profoundly important stories with astounding emotional range. We challenge you to leave without having felt moments of joy, heartache and terror, as in Dominic Nahr's Fractured State, produced for Médecins Sans frontières (pictured), which depicts the humanitarian disaster in South Sudan, in which 2.5 million people have been uprooted.
The exhibition caps off with the announcement of 2016's prestigious Visa d’or award winners, for the most powerful news, feature and daily press images.
Pictured: from Fractured State, by Dominic Nahr. © the artist
Writer: Elly Parsons
Alec Soth’s ‘Gathered Leaves’
24 August
Opening tomorrow at the Finnish Museum of Photography, ‘Gathered Leaves: Photographs by Alec Soth’ collates the four major series responsible for Soth’s critical ascendance.
The Magnum photographer is a multifaceted talent and one of the most respected practitioners of the past decade, possessed of a lyrical and vibrant documentative voice (or, perhaps, eye?).
‘Gathered Leaves’ features the series Sleeping by the Mississippi (2004), Niagara (2006), Broken Manual (2010) and Songbook (2014), the latter of which comprises a plethora of black and white ‘dispatches’ on modern American life, drawn from cross-country road trips Soth took with the writer Brad Zeller (and on which the duo posed as local newspaper reporters).
‘Alec Soth’s work belongs within the canon of great American photography, capturing the American society and mindscape,’ says Elina Heikka, director of the Finnish Museum of Photography. ‘Gathered Leaves’, she continues, ‘may well be the exhibition that will be remembered as an iconic assemblage of our times for years to come’.
‘Gathered Leaves’ is on view until 15 January 2017.
Pictured: from Broken Manual, 2010. Copyright the artist
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
Bischof at Bildhalle
23 August
Opening Thursday at Zürich's Bildhalle Gallery, 'Werner Bischof – Fotografiker' is a new survey on the feted Swiss photojournalist and visual essayist, focusing especially on the importance of the latter role.
Taking titular inspiration from Bischof's studio signage (a door notice of the space he opened in 1936, at the age of 20, read 'Foto-Grafik'), the show features a smattering of early studio work, before segueing to his later years and the galvanising period of 1951–53.
Travelling through Japan on assignment from Magnum, Bischof sought to eschew the restrictions of commission photography and devise a new visual language, shifting his attention to personal images in an attempt to 'get a feel for the Japanese soul'. His practice would quickly become more avant-garde. In 1953, travelling through the USA shortly before his death, Bischof would also start experimenting with nascent colour photography techniques, to beguiling effect. Images from both periods are represented here.
'Werner Bischof – Fotografiker' is on view from 25 August – 1 October.
Pictured: Plants, Zurich, c.1941. Courtesy Bildhalle
Writer: Tom Howells
Philip Jones Griffiths Award 2016
22 August
Entries for the first edition of the Philip Jones Griffiths Award for documentary photography are now open until 10 October. The winner will be announced on 15 November.
The judging panel is a mixture of highly respected professionals and renowned photographers, including Magnum photojournalist Chien Chi Chang; former National Geographic photo editor Elizabeth Krist; former Rolling Stone and Newsweek director of photography Karen Mullarkey; Trolley Books and TJ Boulting director Hannah Watson; and Philip’s daughter and Foundation trustee Katherine Holden.
The winner will be awarded £10,000 (they will also be published on the PJG website), and the prize money must be used to complete a body of work. A ‘highly commended’ status will also be given to a small number of works.
Philip Jones Griffiths set up his eponymous Foundation in 2000, with the intention of helping fund photojournalists cover essential stories. The award has been founded to further reward this.
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
Identity exploration
19 August
The fourth edition of the Landskrona Foto Festival in Sweden was curated by Jenny Nordquist, gallerist and photographer, as well as Christian Caujolle, one of Europe’s most respected photo critics and curators.
Through a series of portraits, the program explores current issues of identity – how gender and the self are perceived and our relationship with nature – to uncover a new way of defining ourselves and the society in which we live.
More than 150 photographers are represented here; world-famous names appearing next to promising new artists. Much of the art has been moved from the festival’s traditional exhibition galleries out into streets, squares and parks, to invite more people to connect with the issues at hand. ‘In a world that is currently being shaken by profound crises,’ says Nordquist, ‘we have chosen not to give the festival a specific isolated theme but instead find different expressions that complement each other and give them an opportunity to meet.’ The festival runs until 28 August.
Pictured: 'Waiting'. Photography: Jason Larkin
Writer: Alix Biehler
About the Physical Object
18 August
Tomorrow, Peckham’s car-park-based Bold Tendencies space launches 'APO': a series 'About the Physical Object' in publishing. The event proposes to explore the idea of the book and the tangible object it represents.
The fair’s first event will be an expo entitled ‘Show and Tell’. Imprints including Bemojake, Loose Joints, Odd Eye Press, Nous Vous Press, MACK, Rick Pushinsky and Trolley Books will show what they do and explain the process of creating a book.
Saturday will see the presentation of ‘The Heart Grows Fonder: Bedtime Stories’ by Miniclick. The ongoing project displays commissions responding to Marshall McLuhan’s seminal publication The Medium in the Massage. Utilising photos, illustrations, paintings, drawings, diagrams and cartoons, the project seeks to explore how new media affects and creates distance between us.
'APO' concludes on Sunday with ‘The Scene Series’, a celebration of Sammy Kissin’s writing by Robin Linde Production and Libreria. Three evocative and intriguing 20 minute short plays will be presented; while Libreria’s Jess Fogarty will create illustrated prints drawing on the performances (and which will subsequently be available for purchase).
Pictured: spread from Dark Rooms, by Nigel Shafran, £35, published by MACK.
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
Sohei Nishino’s sprawling cityscapes
17 August
On view at Brittany’s Festival Photo La Gacilly until 30 September, Japanese photographer and artist Sohei Nishino’s Diorama Maps are giant photographic cartographic surveys comprised of thousands of images – taken over weeks-long trips around a particular city from myriad viewpoints, and then painstakingly printed and assembled into huge, intricate wholes.
Nishino’s recreations of urban landscapes meld different creative disciplines, the artist describing his work as a combination of photography, collage and cartography. Of his approach, he says: ‘I wander around these cities, camera in hand, taking a multitude of shots, so that I can later assemble them one by one, as I remember them, and thus create a geographical representation constituting the portrait of a place.’ The resulting diorama, the festival organisers explain, ‘is a subjective cartographic representation of this experience, a city expressed through memories and images’.
This year sees the 13th edition of the Festival Photo La Gacilly, a central theme of which is Japanese culture and photography.
Pictured: Hiroshima. Courtesy the artist
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
Clarisse d’Arcimoles' forgotten tale
16 August
Opening on Thursday at the Photographers’ Gallery – and part of the Print Sales Gallery Summer Spotlight – is ‘A Forgotten Tale’, a three-dimensional installation by Clarisse d’Arcimoles.
Using a photograph found in London’s Bishopsgate Institute archive, d’Arcimoles recreated a black and white model of a room in a Spitalfields home.
The picture shows a woman making handcrafted brushes surrounded by her six children. The photographer transports viewers back to the Victorian East End, documenting the poverty of the family pictured but also depicting a scene of quiet dignity and familial tenderness.
The Print Sales Gallery at the Photographers’ Gallery is committed to the promotion of affordable art, experimental practice and emerging artists alongside more established names. The Gallery also offers the opportunity to buy work by its roster, which currently numbers 35 photographers.
‘Clarisse d’Arcimoles: A Forgotten Tale’ is on view until 24 September.
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
National identity
15 August
A House Without a Roof is a new collection of work by the Brooklyn-based photographer and filmmaker Adam Golfer. Across the publication, he analyses the histories of violence that have always connected Europe, Israel and Palestine.
Framing this within family relationships, Golfer scrutinises photography, appropriated imagery and text pertaining to his personal history in representing the continuing military occupation of the West Bank. In particular, he focuses on his relationships with his father and grandfather, who lived on a kibbutz in the early 1970s and was a survivor of Dachau, respectively.
Golfer’s family memories are intermingled with the ethnical and national identity issues that have always characterised the Israeli/Palestinian conflict (both ideologically and physically).
A House Without a Roof, $45, is available to pre-order from Adam Golfer’s website.
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards 2016
12 August
Entries for the fifth edition of the Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards are now open until 9 September.
The panel, comprising C/O Berlin curator Ann-Christin Bertrand, Aperture creative director Lesley A Martin and Paris Photo artistic director Christoph Wiesner will select the shortlist, to be announced on the 30 September for the Opening Days of the European Month of Photography at C/O Berlin. The final decision will be made by a different jury at Paris Photo in November.
The 35 shortlisted titles will be divided into three categories: Photobook of the Year, First PhotoBook and Photography Catalogue of the Year. The prizes include $10,000 for the First PhotoBook Prize, though all will be exhibited for Paris Photo’s 20th anniversary showing.
Information on submissions can be found on the Aperture website.
Based in New York, Aperture is a not-for-profit organisation created in 1952 by photographers and writers as 'common ground for the advancement of photography'. Impeccably connected within the photo community, the Foundation produces, publishes and presents a rich programme of photography projects across the United States and beyond.
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
Man of the world
11 August
Opening Monday at The Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas, Austin, ‘Elliot Erwitt: Home Around the World’ is a new exhibition featuring more then 200 images from the titular documentary photographer’s collection. Organised by Jessica S McDonald, the Ransom Center’s Nancy Inman and Marlene Nathan Meyerson Curator of Photography, it is the most comprehensive survey of Erwitt’s work yet.
The exhibition explores the way Erwitt has looked at and documented the world for more then 70 years. The French-born American photographer’s peripatetic upbringing and subsequent life is reflected in his choice of subjects and themes – from portraits of dogs and lone figures, to crowded beach and street scenes. All provide a touching, amusing insight into the human condition.
‘It's been a long journey but worth all the laughs and tears,’ says Erwitt of his practice. ‘And it is all here in “Home Around the World” for anyone to examine.’
Adds Ransom Center director Stephen Enniss, ‘The Erwitt collection captures collective events of great historical importance, as well as those quotidian moments that illuminate what it means to be human.’
‘Elliot Erwitt: Home Around the World’ also features a wealth of magazines, books, advertisements and contact sheets, as well as highlights of Erwitt’s work in films. The show is accompanied by a catalogue edited by McDonald and co-published with Aperture.
‘Elliot Erwitt: Home Around the World’ is on view at The Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas, Austin from 15 August 2016 – 1 January 2017. The publication Elliot Erwitt: Home Around the World, $65, is available from Aperture.
Pictured: Shreveport, Louisiana, 1962. Copyright Elliott Erwitt/Magnum Photos
Changing tides
10 August
Afghanistan: Between Hope and Fear is a new photojournalism monograph by Paula Bronstein, available from the University of Texas Press. The release of the publication is as historically pertinent as ever, in part because media coverage of life in the country has largely moved on to other tumultuous areas in the region. The risk for the Afghan population is that its plight under the brutal rule of the Taliban will be quickly forgotten.
‘Bronstein has put together one of the richest portraits there is of modern Afghanistan – complicated, conflicted, and contradictory, but always compelling,’ explains Kim Barker in the book’s foreword. ‘Just try to put down this book without looking at every image, without feeling each person in your gut, in your heart. It’s impossible.’
In her portraits, Bronstein gives a voice to the helpless, particularly women and children. The war in Afghanistan – which began in 2001 and it is still ongoing – is the source of trauma, from unending human rights abuses against women, to abject poverty and a proliferation of heroin addiction. But Bronstein attempts to embrace positive change in the country as well – depicting the emergence of new hope for its citizens, with democratic elections, education for women and new work opportunities.
Afghanistan: Between Hope and Fear, $55, published by the University of Texas Press.
Pictured: Burqa-clad women wait to vote after a polling station runs out of ballots (Kabul, April 5, 2014). Copyright Paula Bronstein
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
A beautiful game
9 August
'What’s important, money, sex, kids, football, wife, family, work? It’s a variable order. It could be that if you are playing really well, then football would have to be first.' So writes Chris Killip, professor of photography at Harvard University.
The blunt appraisal was made in reference to The Topical Times for these Times – a new book about Liverpool's football culture, shot by Ken Grant and published by RRB PhotoBooks Publishing.
Grant was born in Liverpool 1967. He began to photograph the city's rich history of football culture in the 1980s. His images reflect the city's social environment; he takes photos of people inside and outside pubs, on the streets, on buses and at the pitches – rarely entering the stadiums – collecting pictures of the game, the land and the people who define it. The title of the book is inspired by the sports annuals and football yearbooks so popular between 1970 and 1990.
It's not the first time Grant has paid tribute to his hometown, having previously released Liverpool: The Close Season – a monograph of Liverpool photographs – via Dewi Lewis Publishing and No Pain Whatsoever via Gosta Flemming/Journal.
The book is available from RRB Publishing for £35; a £75 special edition includes a limited signed print.
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
Critiquing crises
8 August
Tomorrow at the PrintSpace on Kingsland Road, Photo-Forum will hold its free monthly talk. August's focuses on how the refugee crisis has been documented.
For the discussion, Photo-Forum will bring together Rob Pinney, Mary Turner and Clare Struthers; three photographers with different backgrounds but a complementary interest in immigration issues. It’s a particularly pertinent discussion, though heightened due to the exponential increase in refugee movement from ever fractious North African and Middle Eastern regions.
The talk will allow people to ask challenging questions around these issues – with the photographers doing their best to answer them.
The gallery has raised a number of potential challenges preceding the debate. Just how can we navigate the fine line between documentation and voyeurism? Is it appropriate to present the ‘refugee crisis’ as a single, homogenous event? How can we avoid resorting to recurrent visual tropes and stereotypes in place of sympathetic, complex reporting? And what ethical responsibility does the photographer have in these situations?
The discussion will take place tomorrow evening, from 7.30pm–10pm at the PrintSpace, 74 Kingsland Road, London, E2 8DL.
Photography: Mary Turner
Writer: Sara Taglioretti
The jazz age
5 August
Opening today at Washington's National Portrait Gallery, 'In The Groove: Jazz Portraits by Herman Leonard' displays a smoky, evocative side to the successful commercial and editorial photographer's oeuvre.
Captured over the period 1948 (the year Leonard opened his first studio in Greenwich Village) to 1960 on an unwieldy Speed Graphic camera, these 28 images span the gamut of jazz's sub-genres, from Dixieland to cool jazz, depicting vocalists and instrumentalists as esteemed as Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald.
'Thanks to these remarkable photographs, we have front-row seats to a golden era in American jazz,' says Ann Shumard, senior curator of photographs at the National Portrait Gallery. 'They transport us to the intimate, smoke-filled nightspots where Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker and Buddy Rich performed groundbreaking music.'
'In The Groove: Jazz Portraits by Herman Leonard' is on view at the National Portrait Gallery – part of the Smithsonian's Donald W Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture in Washington – until 20 February 2017.
Pictured: Duke Ellington, 1958. Copyright Herman Leonard Photography, LLC
Writer: Tom Howells
Ghana's gold
4 August
Tripod City's 'Gold Dust' is a new photographic exhibition and book, on view at London's Dream Bags Jaguar Shoes and published by Village Books.
The project comprises a series of images of everyday life in the African country of Ghana, devised to confront the socio-cultural stereotypes so often brushed across the entire continent. Tripod City is the collective of Charlie Kwai, Chris Lee and Paul Storrie. The set features Kwai's intimate, occasional surreal snapshots; Lee's candid street scenes; and Storrie's tightly composed portraits.
It's a warm, frequently amusing survey of a country – and continent – so often underrepresented in this way.
'Gold Dust' is on view at Dream Bags Jaguar Shoes until 28 August. The publication is available from Village Books.
Writer: Tom Howells
'Cortona On The Move' 2016
3 August
On view until 2 October, the sixth edition of the 'Cortona On The Move' international photography festival presents work by a host of national and international proponents, as well as prizes, an OFF Circuit select display of young photographers' work and a number of workshops.
Held in the eponymous Tuscan town, the festival's motto is 'Fotografia in Viaggio' or 'Photography in Travel'. 'Each year,' the organisers explain, 'the festival takes you on a voyage of discovery into unexplored worlds and unimagined situations.'
Of the myriad single exhibitions, Lucas Foglia's 'FRONTCOUNTRY' particularly draws the eye. Between 2006 and 2013, the photographer journeyed across the United States' least populated regions – from the Midwest of Idaho and Wyoming, through to New Mexico and Texas – documenting the local people living in the emergence of a transformative mining and energy industry.
Also showing are exhibitions by Darcy Padilla, Simona Ghizzoni, Daesung Lee and the first European retrospective on Larry Towell, among others.
Pictured: from the FRONTCOUNTRY series, by Lucas Foglia. Courtesy the artist and MiCamera
Writer: Tom Howells
A passage of time
2 August
Hai Bo's photographs are marked by silence and solitude. The former is almost palpable; the latter simultaneously serene and haunting. In a world of chaos, Bo's vistas and portraits find solace in rural China, though his is a countryside both stark and anachronistic rather than bucolic.
This is particularly evinced in the seven works from Bo's The Northern Series on show as part of a new exhibition at Pace Hong Kong. Bo's uncle is a defacto protagonist in these images – a previously wild figure now quiet and elderly, and a real-time witness to China's transition from an agrarian to a modern civilisation. 'More than individual catharsis and nostalgia,' the gallery explains, 'Hai Bo's creations are a form of resistance against change.'
As well as images from the Northern Series, the show will also feature the work Fable, from the Photographic Diary collection.
'Hai Bo' is on view until 14 September.
Pictured: The Northern No. 14 – Dense Fog, 2004. Copyright Hai Bo. Courtesy Pace Hong Kong
Writer: Tom Howells
Jerwood/Photoworks Awards 2016
1 August
Entries for UK-based artists and photographers are now open for the second Jerwood/Photoworks Awards.
Three Awards of £5,000 will be given to assist in the making of new work (there will also be a mentoring programme). Up to £5,000 of additional production funding will be available, and the recipients' works will be shown in a group exhibition at the Jerwood Space from January 2018.
The selection panel for the prize will include Celia Davies, director of Photoworks; Sarah Williams, head of programme at Jerwood Visual Arts; photographers Anna Fox and Ori Gersht; and writer and artist Mark Durden.
Says Davies: 'The Jerwood/Photoworks Awards are unique in that they’re a rounded opportunity, developed within a supportive framework. It’s not just a fund, but a process of opportunity and development for practitioners.'
Information on submissions can be found at the Photoworks website. The closing date is 2 November, and the winners will be announced in January 2017.
Pictured: Untitled, by Joanna Piotrowska, originally commissioned through Jerwood/Photoworks Awards 2015. Last year's works are currently on view at Belfast Exposed, at The Exchange Place, Belfast
Writer: Tom Howells
Varied landscapes
29 July
Opening today at London's Richard Saltoun Gallery is the third part of the exhibition 'Some Dimensions of my Lunch: Conceptual Art in Britain'.
The show focuses on the work of John Blake and the late Tony Morgan.
Blake was enraptured of landscape, and movement within it as a means of exploring 'site' (as evidenced in his Untitled (M Panorama) pair of photographs depicting Oxfordshire's White Horse of Uffington, taken in 1968/69). More personal is Skin II, 1969/70, in which the landscape of Blake's own body is manipulated and twisted.
The Fluxus-inspired Morgan was equally indebted to landscape as an expressive canvas – an approach inaugurated with a month-long walk to Rome at the age of 22. His most famous thesis on this practice will be shown for the first time in its entirety; The Book of Exercises, 1971, amalgamates text and photography, attempting a 'taxonomy of activities according to their usefulness to the community', the gallery explains.
'Some Dimensions of my Lunch: Conceptual Art in Britain. Part 3: Tony Morgan & John Blake' is on view until 26 August. Part four – focusing on Ed Herring and Roger Palmer, will open 1 September.
Pictured: Skin II, 1969/70. Copyright the artist. Courtesy Richard Saltoun Gallery
Writer: Tom Howells
The War of Terror
28 July
Opening at the Imperial War Museum today, 'Edmund Clark: War of Terror' is a multifaceted exhibition surveying the global war on terror's imposition of state control.
The show – Clark's first major presentation in the UK – explores the ways political states, particularly the UK, look to safeguard their citizens, as well as the personal experiences of residents and terror suspects.
This is conveyed across five series of Clark's work, including: the visualisations of 'extraordinary rendition' to the US seen in 'Negative Publicity: Artefacts of Extraordinary Rendition', his most recent work; the photography of 'Guantanamo: If The Light Goes Out'; and 'Control Order House', in which Clark lived in and documented a suburban English house that had previously been occupied by a terror suspect under a Home Office enforced control order.
This latter series is also explored in a new book, Control Order House, published by Here Press to coincide with the exhibition.
Says Kathleen Palmer, head of art at the IWM, ‘Edmund Clark’s innovative work finds new ways to make visible aspects of the "War on Terror" which have remained out of sight. This is the latest of IWM’s exhibitions to explore in depth the work of an outstanding contemporary artist with a sustained interest in conflict.’
'Edmund Clark: War of Terror' is on view until 28 August.
Pictured: Bedroom, from the series 'Control Order House'. Copyright Edmund Clark. Courtesy of Flowers Gallery London and New York
Writer: Tom Howells
Wolman at Woodstock
27 July
Opening tomorrow at Proud Camden, 'Woodstock by Baron Wolman' is a survey of the titular festival by the esteemed and hugely influential Rolling Stone photographer.
Taking place from 15–18 August 1969 – advertised as 'Three Days of Peace and Music', in the midst of the Vietnam War – Woodstock would become a touchstone event for the counter-culture generation; espousing values of positivity and community through the elemental force of rock'n'roll.
Baron Wolman, an important figure in the formative early years of Rolling Stone, captured the raw, unfettered energy of the festival in an unobtrusive, humanistic manner; spending, he explains, most of his time in the wild throng of the crowd and on the site's outskirts, rather than focusing purely on the music. The result, on display here, is an encompassing social statement and a snapshot of a cultural movement at its most energised.
'Woodstock by Baron Wolman' is on view until 11 September.
Pictured: A couple play the guitar sitting on their car on the way to the Woodstock Festival, August 1969. Courtesy Iconic Images/Baron Wolman
Writer: Tom Howells
Britain on film
26 July
'An Ideal for Living: Photographing Class, Culture and Identity in Modern Britain' – a new exhibition at London's Beetles + Huxley gallery – draws on the work of 29 practitioners to ascertain how the medium has shaped our national consciousness and identity.
Beginning with the interwar period via works by Bill Brandt, Emil Otto Hoppé and Henri Cartier-Bresson, the show flits through post-Second World War austerity to the more lurid social releases of the 1960s and 70s. Here, the rise of divisive youth culture is juxtaposed with the stark realities of northern mining communities, the Troubles and the integration of black communities across the country.
Almost every aspect of Britain's subsequent socio-cultural identity is explored: from the racially-motivated riots of the 1970s and 80s, to life on gypsy encampments, the quirks of homegrown tourism and ruminations on the deep-seated ties between national identity, immigration and religion.
Featuring work by artists as diverse as John Bulmer, Chris Killip, Martin Parr, Anna Fox and Mahtab Hussein, 'An Ideal for Living' opens tomorrow and is on view until 17 September.
Pictured: Notting Hill Couple, by Charlie Phillips, 1967. Courtesy the artist and Beetles + Huxley
Writer: Tom Howells
Olympic legacy
25 July
While the imminent Rio 2016 Olympics may be preemptively marred by doping scandals, the Zika virus and ropey athletic accommodation, there's much to acknowledge in the controversial transformation of a major city set deep with social, environmental and corruption issues.
Documenting this is Morar Olimpíadas, a new book by the celebrated landscape and portrait photographer Giles Price (and foreworded by Jules Bokyoff, the author of three books on the Olympics).
Price's abstract images, captured from the air in the period 2014–16, reveal a city in flux; in the throes of systemic regeneration, but juxtaposed with the prevailing negative social and environmental impact. They are landscapes, says Price, of 'transition and partition'.
Boykoff continues: 'From an altitude of 1,500 feet, Price offers us geographical landscapes laced with geopolitical import. He deftly accentuates the inequalities that all too often Olympic development either exacerbates or breathes into being. […] We owe Price gratitude for gifting us with fresh perspective, for affording us a glimpse of the privatised enclaves of the future, for stoking a vital discussion about privilege, priorities and power.'
Morar Olimpíadas, by Giles Price, £30, published by SeeStudio. Available to order from Giles Price's website.
Pictured: Residents fight eviction as their homes start to be demolished in Vila Autodromo, Barra da Tijuca, 2014
Writer: Tom Howells
Ghirri in words
22 July
The Italian photographer Luigi Ghirri may be known for his rich, layered and extensive body of visual work, but he was also a prolific essayist – for magazines and newspapers, as well as his own publications and private ruminations.
Now available in English for the first time via MACK, The Complete Essays 1973–1991 features 86 of Ghirri's short texts. Published by MACK, the book highlights the way Ghirri's writing worked in parallel to his photographic practice, exploring similar themes of time, identity, vision and place. In doing so, the photographer drew on myriad wider cultural references, weaving personal reflections on sci-fi cinema, pop music, painting and architecture into his texts. The result, explains the publisher, is 'a sort of dialectic chamber of curiosities'.
The Complete Essays 1973–1991, by Luigi Ghirri, £15, published by MACK.
Photography copyright Luigi Ghirri, 2016, courtesy MACK
Writer: Tom Howells
William Eggleston at the National Portrait Gallery
21 July
Opening today and on view until 23 October, 'William Eggleston: Portraits' is a landmark retrospective on the influential and groundbreaking American photographer, showing at London's National Portrait Gallery.
Highly lauded for his pioneering work in colour photography, Eggleston's 1976 solo MoMA show is now seen as a catalytic moment in the elevation of colour imagery's status as an art form.
Featuring 100 works, 'Portraits' is the most thorough survey of Eggleston's work to date.
Pictured: Untitled, c.1970 (Devoe Money in Jackson, Mississippi), by William Eggleston, c.1970. Copyright Eggleston Artistic Trust
Writer: Tom Howells
Punk's not dead
20 July
Given the genre's 40th anniversary this year, one can barely move without passing a punk retrospective – a sea of monochromatic sneers, bad hair (and worse piercings) and Johnny Rotten staring into the middle distance.
Next up: 'Punk' at London's Michael Hoppen Gallery is an exhibition of vintage press prints, held in conjunction with Rex Shutterstock, that document the rise of the divisive subculture in the 1970s, before its inaugural British wave became a commodified self parody.
Michael Hoppen Gallery was founded 24 years ago on the King's Road – the epicentre of the punk movement, and home to the defacto ground zero of Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood's SEX store.
'Punk: Celebrating 40 Years of Punk' will be on view until 26 August.
Pictured: Steve Havoc, Siouxsie Sioux, 'Debbie', 1970s, by Ray Stevenson. Copyright Ray Stevenson. Courtesy Rex Shutterstock
Writer: Tom Howells
Haas at the Hall of Fame
19 July
Opening tomorrow at the International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum in St Louis, 'Ernst Haas: Color Brought to Life' is a career retrospective on the influential Magnum member.
A pioneering colourist, the Vienna-born Haas eschewed a career in medicine to embrace photography, staging his first solo show at the age of 26 (in 1947) and joining Magnum two years later (turning down a role at LIFE magazine in the process).
Haas moved to the US in 1950 and started experimenting with colour photography soon after. Within a decade, he had been voted one of the world's greatest photographers, by Popular Photography. His practice was galvanised in the 1953 photo essay 'Images of a Magic City' – printed in LIFE – and the 1986 book The Creation, though his work was given a first thorough survey in a 1962 MoMA show.
'Color Brought to Life' features 43 colour prints, spanning Haas' four-decade career, further emphasising his enduring legacy and indelible contribution to photographic history.
Pictured: Traffic, New York, 1963
Writer: Tom Howells
'Made You Look – Dandyism and Black Masculinity'
15 July
Opening today at The Photographers' Gallery, the exhibition ‘Made You Look: Dandyism and Black Masculinity’ consists of a selection of photographs from a range of time periods and locations. Shown together, the images work to explore the theme of black masculinity, particularly through the adoption and appropriation of the persona of the dandy.
Traditionally referring to a man unduly devoted to appearing stylish and refined, in the context of this exhibition the persona takes on a more political significance, made all the more poignant by the current political climate.
Today, black men are some of the most influential forces in style across the world, though they also make up one of the most vulnerable demographics, evidenced most recently by the disproportionate rates of arrest for black men in both the UK and USA.
In these photographs, the flamboyance of the subjects’ dress challenges the traditional perception of the black male as a persecuted and objectified individual. With their exuberant and flamboyant apparel, these men’s appropriation of the dandy character signifies a refusal to conform to the stereotype of the persecuted individual history has dealt them.
‘Made You Look: Dandyism and Black Masculinity’ is on view until 25 September.
Pictured: Wayne Swart, by Kristin-Lee Moolman
Writer: Hannah Abel-Hirsch
A trip into Ruscha country
18 July
‘Ed Ruscha and the Great American West’, which opened over the weekend at the de Young museum in San Francisco, focuses on the artist’s life-long fascination with this part of America.
In 1956, Ruscha left home aged just 18 and drove from Oklahoma to Los Angeles, where he hoped to pursue his dream of attending art school. Travelling Route 66, Ruscha journeyed through swathes of the American southwest, where he encountered the landscapes that would come to dominate his practice for years to come. The 99 works on display include photographs of landscapes and sights emblematic of the region. Auto repair shops, billboard and long stretches of roadway punctuated by telephone poles feature repeatedly, along with the iconic image of the gasoline station that has become synonymous with Ruscha’s work. The exhibition also includes his famous 'Technicolour’ images of the Hollywood sign, along with other works that comment on LA and its film industry.
Now 78, Ruscha continues to explore the theme of the quintessential American landscape, making regular road trips and producing work out of his studio located in the Californian desert. His newest pieces, some made as recently as 2015, also feature in the exhibition, offering visitors a survey of this seminal artist’s continued commitment to exploring the American West.
‘Ed Ruscha and the Great American West’ is on view until 9 October.
Pictured: Pool #7, from Nine Swimming Pools and a Broken Glass, 1968. Courtesy the artist
Writer: Hannah Abel-Hirsch
Seeing is believing
13 July
The theme of this year’s Aperture Summer Open – opening tomorrow at the eponymous New York gallery – is ‘Photography is Magic’. Selected annually by a prominent writer or curator, the exhibition is intended as a platform for investigating an aspect of photography at the forefront of debate and discussion.
This year, contributors were invited to submit work exploring the notion of photography as a magical form, in opposition to the traditional perception of it as a primarily documentative medium. The images selected for the exhibition range from complexly staged scenes and digital experiments to snapshots of everyday life: from a pineapple soaring through a blue sky to a man blowing a plume of smoke into a holographic void.
All, however, are concurrent in their focus on photography as a medium capable of manipulating reality into something chimerical or uncanny. In a world increasingly saturated with images, the photographs on display make us stop and question just what it is we are seeing. They encourage us to appreciate the possibilities of the medium outside of its ability to simply record.
'Photography is Magic' is on view until 11 August.
Pictured: Digital Clouds, by Marco Scozzaro, 2015. Courtesy the artist
Writer: Hannah Abel-Hirsch
‘Diane Arbus: In the beginning’
12 July
From today, the Metropolitan Museum of Art's new space dedicated to modern and contemporary work, the Met Breuer, is showcasing over 100 previously unseen photographs by one of the greatest artists of the 20th century, Diane Arbus.
Although she had photographed intermittently from the age of 18, it was only in her early thirties that Arbus began to move away from a career as a commercial fashion photographer to pursue her unique artistic vision. Renowned for her poignant images of society’s outsiders, the exhibition explores the development of her distinct style via photographs taken during the first seven years of this period, beginning in 1956 and ending in 1962.
Working mainly in and around New York, Arbus dedicated herself to the documentation of the city’s strangest inhabitants. In contrast to her contemporaries – from Walker Evans and Helen Levitt to Garry Winogrand and Lee Friedlander, who believed that a detachment from their subjects was essential to their practices – Arbus actively sought out personal encounters as a basis for her work.
Nearly half of the photographs made by Arbus during her short, prolific career were produced during these years. However, stowed away in an inaccessible corner of her basement darkroom in Greenwich Village, the prints remained undiscovered until several years after her death. ‘In the beginning’ marks a long overdue exploration of the origins of Arbus' artistic journey.
‘Diane Arbus: In the beginning’ is on view until 27 November.
Pictured: The Backwards Man in his hotel room, NYC 1961, by Diane Arbus, 1961. Copyright The Estate of Diane Arbus, LLC. All Rights Reserved
Writer: Hannah Abel-Hirsch
'City of Dust'
11 July
Opening today at the Westminster Reference Library, ‘City of Dust’ is a new exhibition marking the completion of the writer and photographer Lewis Bush’s most recent photographic project and accompanying publication. The photo-book is conceived as a newsprint publication, with a self-contained exhibition that can be taken away by visitors.
The series explores the tensions between past and present in the physical landscape of London, a city simultaneously shaped by its rich history and relentless redevelopment to certify its status as a modern metropolis. Bush has employed his camera to capture details from the city’s urban landscape, which are charged with memories of the past. In doing so, he presents London as a city steeped in vestiges of history, waiting for discovery if only one took the time to reminisce and reflect.
In a continuation of narratives explored in his previous book Metropole, the series also explores the obliteration of this history through the rapid redevelopment and gentrification of the city. A photograph of a mural, depicting a historical vista of the River Thames, mounted with security cameras, epitomises this relationship between past and present. The series points to the reality of a city that risks being transformed into a metropolis completely devoid of memory.
‘City of Dust’ is on view until 23 July.
Writer: Hannah Abel-Hirsch