kelly hill

just in .....

2011-10-21T14:18:00.000-07:00

... from Millennium Images, a cover for Patrick Lamm's novel Philippine.

if you go down to the woods today ...

2011-10-12T06:50:00.000-07:00

portraits of Lola, Umi, Eoban and Maud

by Kelly Hill

My extremely talented friend Misia Gobdeski and her business partner, Sarah Higgs, of costumise - have made a box of amazing outfits for the Museum of Childhood's latest exhibition Magic Worlds.

We discovered some very magical creatures and fabulous beings lurking in Bunhill Fields the other day.

portrait of Saoirse

by Kelly Hill

hereford photography festival - open here

2011-10-12T06:29:00.000-07:00

Alma and Maud
photograph by Kelly Hill

I am pleased to be part of the HPF’s annual open submission exhibition. Open Here will be exhibited at The Courtyard Centre for the Arts, Edgar Street, Hereford, HR4 9JR between Friday 28th October and Sunday 27th November

The HPF showcases 35 exhibitions and 21 events over 5 cites for 2011, with most of the work being shown in Hereford - over 75 artists and documentary photographers, and the HPF Fringe featuring the work of 20 early career artists.

The 22 photographers featured in Open Here were selected by the HPF panel: Caitlin Griffiths, Artistic Director of HPF; Nina Gustavsson, photographer and tutor at Hereford College of Arts; Melissa DeWitt editor of HotShoe, and Simon Bainbridge editor of BJP.

I will be showing alongside : Alberto Maserin, Alex Currie, Barry Cawston, Celine Marchbank, Chiara Tocci, Cordelia Weedon, Corinne Silva, Douglas Ljungkvist, Elisa Noguera, Enrico Abrate, Jenny Hardy, Jim McKeever, Jo Gane, Jo Metson Scott, Jon Wyatt, Liz Orton, Lydia Goldblatt, Martina Geccelli, Marysa Dowling, Thomas Ball and Toby Coulson.

photograph by Vanessa Winship

hereford photography festival live auction

2011-10-03T14:58:00.000-07:00

Hotshoe Gallery: 4th-7th October

Auction: 7th October 6-9pm

Have a look at the wonderful work that has been donated to the Hereford Photography Festival Live Auction taking place at the Hotshoe Gallery in Clerkenwell on Friday.

Over 40 artists from across the globe have this month donated works of art to help raise funds for the UK’s longest running photography festival.

Renowned photographers such as Martin Parr, John Bulmer, Shelby Lee Adams, Simon Roberts, and KayLynn Deveney have all donated time, money and artwork to both a digital and live auction which aim to raise funds for the highly popular Hereford Photography Festival (HPF).

biomimicry in architecture

2011-09-28T14:36:00.000-07:00

After years of extremely hard work, belief and passion, I am really excited that my partner, Michael Pawlyn, will be launching his book, Biomimicry in Architecture, at the RIBA tomorrow.

Dedicated to our children, Umi and Sol, this is a book that describes how buildings could be built and conceived from 'cradle to cradle' to ensure that waste materials are reduced to a minimum and a more holistic and nurturing approach is adopted in the entire construction process.

He is speaking at the RSA at 13:00 and you can listen to the event live from the RSA website.

I am very proud of him - and not afraid to say so x

amanda caines at origin

2011-09-05T02:04:00.000-07:00

Amanda, the Jeweller

Amanda trawls the tidal beaches of the Thames for fragments Victorian plates, ceramic pipes and glass bottles. Her workshop is a trove of jars, bottles and drawers filled with exquisite junk that she then weaves into bracelets, broaches and necklaces.

The images I took of Amanda Caines hands, that are part of my ongoing collection of hand portraits, are featured on the Origin eshot promoting the work of handcraft artists from around the UK.

for japan

2011-09-05T01:28:00.000-07:00

I submitted to images to Architecture for Humanity's charity print auction of photographs that raised funds for the long term reconstruction of the tsunami devastated north east region of Japan.

My Father was posted to Japan in 1953, during his National Service with the Royal Fusiliers. I found his photo album and rephotographed some of the pages. The curators of the exhibition selected an image he had taken from the USAF plane of Mount Fuji in the mist. The image is almost an unconscious nod to Hokusai's 'Thirty-Six Views'.

I also submitted a small version of Umi behind glass, 2006. Umi means ocean in Japanese and in some way recalls the Little Mermaid myth.

The Auction was held at the Hotshoe Gallery in Clerkenwell on August 5th.

corry bevington

2011-09-05T00:46:00.000-07:00

Over the summer I enjoyed meeting and photographing the photographer, Corry Bevington (Bridget Bishop) at her home in South London, for the architect, Mark Power.

Bridget worked as a photographer in the 1950s and has a wonderful series of photographs of rural industries in Britain, some of which were pinned on the walls of the room that Mark redesigned for her. A room that had been her darkroom for many years.

Bridget was one of the founding members of the Photo Co-op, now Photofusion, where she remains a director.

craft matters

2011-07-05T06:44:00.000-07:00

I have just signed up to the 'Craft Matters' campaign that asks why craft is important to the social, economic, educational and cultural life of individuals in the UK. The craft council believes that everyone should have to opportunity to make, see, collect and learn about why craft matters.

The campaign hit a cord with me and this is what I had to say:

What is it about our hands that tell us so much about ourselves and, the work that we do? Have a look at your own hands – what story do they tell?

What is it that connects the eye to hand to heart?

'Our sense of touch', said Barbara Hepworth, 'is a fundamental sensibility ... giving us the ability to feel weight and form and assess its significance'.

The touch of a hand is what gives us the capacity to communicate as unique individuals – with all our faults and blips … we are not machine made.

matilda and harry

2011-06-16T14:15:00.000-07:00

glyn maxwell portraits

2011-06-13T14:05:00.001-07:00

I photographed the poet Glyn Maxwell the other day. It was good to meet him as he previously selected an image of mine for his latest collection of poetry 'Hide Now' that was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliott Prize for Poetry in 2009.

Glyn's libretto for the new opera, 'Seven Angels', will be staged at the Linbury Studio Theatre at The Royal Opera House in July.

save our skills - deustche bank award finalists

2011-06-13T03:45:00.000-07:00

I have spent a great deal of time over the past couple of months working with the very lovely and passionate knitwear designer - Zoe Grace Fletcher - on a pitch for the Deustche Bank Award 2011.

We travelled to the Lake District and Yorkshire to meet wool producers, wrote a business plan, made a film, and I started a new project photographing people who create and tend the most beautiful things with their hands.

It has been an enjoyable and challenging adventure - we worked brilliantly together and produced a great pitch that was highly praised by the judges at Deutsche Bank and the University of the Arts.

an afternoon with ade adepitan ...

2011-05-18T07:21:00.000-07:00

I spent a very relaxed afternoon photographing Ade Adepitan in West London last week.

What an amazing personality - a real inspiration!

umi and maud featured on the Millennium website

2011-05-06T06:16:00.000-07:00

The Terry O’Neill Photography Awards at Nunnington Hall

2011-02-14T14:28:00.000-08:00

The Terry O'Neill Photography Awards are now on display at Nunnington Hall, Yorkshire.

Michael Pawlyn: Using nature's genius in architecture

2011-02-13T02:35:00.000-08:00

Michael Pawlyn: Using nature's genius in architecture | Video on TED.com

Terry O'Neill Award

2010-12-11T11:52:00.002-08:00

It was exciting to be shortlisted for the prestigious Terry O'Neill Award currently on show at the Hotshoe Gallery in Clerkenwell. The final ten included Laura Pannack, Andrew McConnell, Robin Friend and Algae Bory. First prize went to Sebastian Liste who is returning to Brazil to continue his Urban Quilomobo project.

–

9 – 15 December 2010

Private View: 8 Dec, 6–9pm

–

View full details on the award’s dedicated website: terry o'neill award

MAP2010 Final Show

2010-12-02T13:59:00.001-08:00

Terry O'Neill Award

2010-11-18T13:20:00.000-08:00

Ulysses 2 @ the printspace

2010-11-17T13:58:00.001-08:00

DayFour issue 8 Ulysses II

Published 2010

Cover: Jesse Pollock

On June 16, 1904, the Irish author James Joyce went on his first date with Nora Barnacle, the woman with whom he would spend the rest of his life. That day is immortalized in Joyce's novel Ulysses, and it is commemorated every year by Joyce fans and scholars, who gather in Dublin to retrace the steps of the novel's hero, advertising salesman Leopold Bloom. The most basic description of the book is that it records an ordinary day in the life of an ordinary man. Joyce set down impressions, events, thoughts and conversations – trivial, meaningful, transcendental and obscure – and in the process created the modern novel.

On Saturday June 13 2004, a group of photographers around the world took part in DayFour's first Ulysses project. The brief was straightforward: to take one photograph every hour, on the hour, from the time you woke up till the time you fell asleep. It didn't matter where you were or what you were doing. What mattered was that everyone would be 'clicking' at the same moment. Five years later, we did it again, with many of the original participants again taking part and many new D4 contributors joining us. This issue is a record of Saturday June 19 2009: Ulysses Day II.

6pm: Remy as Cyberman at Adam Gray’s studio show on Southgate Road

10am: Terror on the streets while walking to Kipfel In Smithfields for a good Austrian coffee

MA Photography 2010 Final Exhibition

2010-11-09T13:33:00.000-08:00

23-29 November

Monday to Friday 10am – 5pm
Saturday 10am – 4pm

Private View Thursday 25 November 6 – 9pm

The Galleries
London College of Communication
Elephant & Castle
London
SE1 6SB

Opening Flowers East 16th September

2010-09-13T13:30:00.000-07:00

Flowers has joined with photography training and development agency Rhubarb-Rhubarb and the Arts Council West Midlands to realise the second year of the ‘Hungry’ Bursary Awards Scheme. The Bursary is open to both established and emergent photographers and is committed to the aim of nurturing creativity, innovation and excellence in the field of photography. Following an online submission process, a selection of work was chosen by a panel of judges comprised of prominent individuals from the art world, management services, imaging, creative and business industries: Harry Hardie of Host Gallery; David Birkitt of DMB Media; Chris Littlewood of Flowers; Mark Foxwell of Genesis Imaging; and Lara Ratnaraja of Business Link. The exhibition brings together work from the seven winning series.

Juila Curtin / Resettlement
Resettlement focuses on the vernacular architecture, in particular the transient, makeshift structures inhabited by forced migrants, which emerged during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Sampling photographs from the Farm Security Administration catalogue – a vast collection of images that document history, as well as forming constitutive parts of the history of photography – I deconstructed and subsequently reconstructed these buildings to form a three-dimensional model of the settlements as they are depicted in the archived images. Through this process I attempt to open up a contemporary space for the interpretation of the photographs.

Kelly Hill / In the cities
My project is a game of chance. I arrive at an unfamiliar home at dusk and discuss the worlds the children would like to create. They select their own props and I withdraw to observe them from the outside. I invite them to participate in a game but they create the images in the poses and gestures they make. I am interested in chance encounters, the merging of fact and fiction and discovery of the magical in the mundane.

Tom Lovelace / Unit 2
Unit 2 is a series of images depicting industrial forms that have been created solely for the camera. These objects are based upon imagined, anonymous and functionally ‘false’ structures that explore the point at which the mundane teeters upon the fantastical. The project is conceptualised around the creation of a new machine typology: ‘function equals form’ is reversed so that ‘form equals function’.

Marcia Michael / The Study of Kin
My work is concerned with how the invention of photography has facilitated and promoted human classification through the recording, representation, collection and display of difference. It explores the ways in which both institutional and private photographic archives – including the family album – generate and perpetuate systems of social control.

Kate Owens / 28 Day Flower Diary
28 Day Flower Diary explores traditionally ‘feminine’ occupations such as floristry, which were once considered suitable activities for taming idle hands and minds. Interspersing bouquets of my own digital making with diary extracts, I attempt to recast both the activity of flower arrangement and the notions of order and control with which it is associated. The images reveal and revel in something unspoken and subversively uncontainable.

David Plummer / Pain Has an Element of Blank
Pain has an element of blank;
It cannot recollect
When it began, or if there were
A day when it was not.

It has no future but itself,
Its infinite realms contain
Its past, enlightened to perceive
New periods of pain.
(Emily Dickinson)

In 2003 David Pembroke was diagnosed with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, a neurodegenerative brain disease that has no known cause, treatment or cure. David Plummer traces the progression of the disease in a series of portraits of Pembroke, leaving it to his sitter to decide the background colour of each successive photograph as a means of tracing changes to his emotional state.

Zhao Renhui / The Institute of Critical Zoologists
This series of images titled The Blind illustrates a system of disguise used by contemporary nature photographers and zoologists being tested in various environments. The Blind, a form of a camouflage cloak, works on the principle that an object vanishes from sight if light rays that strike it are not reflected as usual, but forced to flow around it as though it were not there.

For further information, please contact Chris Littlewood at Flowers on 020 7920 7777 or email chris@flowersgalleries.com

LCC photographers take lion’s share of rhubarb rhubarb’s‘hungry’ bursary awards 2010

Reports From An Ordinary Satellite

2010-07-26T15:14:00.000-07:00

Reports from an Ordinary Satellite showcases 17 projects in progress from the current MA Photography programme at the London College of Communication. It demonstrates the preoccupations and interests inherent in contemporary photography, a fascination with the world we inhabit as well as curiosity about the lives of others.

The exhibition has previously been shown in gallery spaces both in Bielefeld, Germany and London. In this Birmingham based installation, the photographs are exhibited in an industrial space, using the architecture and remaining features of the ex metal fabrication factory to dictate the hanging of the works around the building. This counterpoising of art and industry raises questions about where photography sits in a post-industrial society and demonstrates the diverse uses of a range of photographic practices freed from the mechanics of the industrial machine.

Hungry Bursary 2010 Collision

2010-07-12T15:20:00.001-07:00

Foto8 Summershow 26 July – 4 September 2010

2010-07-01T14:03:00.000-07:00

I am happy to have been selected for the annual foto8 summer show to be held at HOST Gallery, Honduras Street, London.

Open to the public from 26th July 2010

rhubarb rhubarb 2010 bursary winners

2010-04-26T14:10:00.000-07:00

2010 Bursary Winners Announced

Julia Curtin
David Plummer
Kelly Hill
Zhao Renhui
Kate Owens
Marcia Michael
Tom Lovelace

Many Congratulations!

_________________________________________________

Rhubarb-Rhubarb has partnered with Arts Council West Midlands, its own Rhubarb East Gallery, Birmingham; Flowers East Gallery London, and Genesis Imaging to bring image makers the second year of the highly digestible 'Hungry' Bursary Awards Scheme

Barbican - Céleste Boursier-Mougenot

2010-02-28T13:43:00.001-08:00

... i liked this - go see

Barbican - Céleste Boursier-Mougenot

olivia's pictures of the bielefeld exhibition

2010-02-21T15:36:00.001-08:00

reports from an ordinary satellite

2010-02-21T15:18:00.000-08:00

Work in Progress from MA Photography at the London College of Communication

'So this is my start
It is obviously not perfect
Add take away from it
Do one better'

The show features a diverse range of contemporary photographic practice from photographers on the MA Photography programme at the LCC.

This exhibition demonstrates the preoccupations and interests inherent in contemporary photography. A fascination with the world we inhabit, curiosity about the lives of others, investigations of the possibilities of photography.

Exhibiting photographers;

Diane Bielik
Ella Bryant
Justina Burnett
Alicia Clarke
Jessamy Dipper
Jo Gane
Rab Harling
Cameron Haynes
Kelly Hill
Caroline James
Maxim Kelly
Olivia McGilchrist
Elisabet Noguera Lopez
Emma Jane Spain
Derek Wiafe
Paul Winch Furness

New work will also be made in Bielefeld and subsequently shown in London.

Galerie der Fachhochschule Bielefeld
Fachbereich 1 / Gestaltung
Lampingstraße 3
33615
Bielefeld. Germany
February 8th - 10th 2010
Private View Tuesday 9th 6-8pm

Well Gallery,
London College of Communication,
Elephant and Castle,
London. UK
SE1 6SB
February 17th - 26th 2010
Private View Tuesday 23rd February 6pm-8pm

This exhibition project forms a joint elective between LCC MA Photography and the UAL Photography and the Archive Research Centre. Led by Val Williams (PARC) and Wiebke leister (LCC and Bielefeld). Support from Monica Takvam (PARC)

you can't always get what you want

2009-11-22T15:41:00.000-08:00

Please join us for the private view of the DayFour exhibition, "You Can't Always Get What You Want."

When: Thursday, December 10th, 7pm - 10pm

Where: theprintspace 74 Kingsland Road, London E2 8DL

In an ideal world, we could all work for a living three days a week and on the fourth day we'd do our own work, on whatever we love, are drawn to or excited by (of course, the three-day weekend goes without saying). This is the philosophy of DayFour, an annual magazine and website of personal work, mainly (but not exclusively) photographic. The idea for this issue was to explore something we in the affluent West have become very used to over the past few years: the ability to have most of our desires satisfied with comparative ease. In this issue and exhibition, the contributors were asked to think about wishes, desires, lusts, hopes, expectations. The 28 contributors responded in surprisingly varied and personal ways.

The exhibition will run from Friday the 11th of December until Wednesday the 30th of December (excluding bank holidays)

Fiona Hayes

Editor / Art Director

DAYFOUR

http://www.dayfour.info

a distance between

2009-10-23T14:20:00.000-07:00

In the cities, Kelly Hill, 2009

'In the cities ' is a body of work that looks at the private world of children living in a major urban metropolis whose parents have migrated from another European country - for work, for marriage, for study. The images were shot from the outside at dusk - a threshold moment where day merges into night. This liminal period hints at an ambiguous and indeterminate state where identity dissolves.

The children are illuminated in pools of light as the world darkens around them, exploring notions of boundary and the merging/blurring of private and public universes as well as of languages and cultures.

“Dans les villes” est un ensemble d’œuvres photographiques qui observe l’univers privé d'enfants vivant dans une grande métropole urbaine et dont les parents ont immigré d’un autre pays européen pour des motifs professionnels, familiaux ou d'étude. Toutes les photographies ont été prises de l’extérieur, au crépuscule, moment liminaire où le jour et la nuit se confondent et qui évoque un état ambigu et indéterminé où les identités se dissolvent.

Les enfants sont éclairés par une source de lumière tandis qu’autour d'eux l’obscurité se fait peu à peu. Ces images explorent la notion de fusion ou de “confusion” entre les univers public et privé et entre les diverses langues et cultures.

A DISTANCE BETWEEN

MA Photography London and Paris

Pascal Ancel, Diane Bielik, Tania Dolvers, Kate Elliott, Joanne Gane, Rab Harling, Cameron Haynes, Kelly Hill, Maxim Kelly, Gemma Land, Elisa Noguera Lopez, Jeff Metal, Olivia McGilchrist, Anna Positano, Emma Jane Spain

Ivan Mathie, Sophie Scher, Loïc Molon, Annabelle Lourenço, Lucille Caballero, Gabriel Coutagne, Judith Bormand, Pierre Adrien Brazzini, Nicolas Friess, William Gaye, Lauriane Thiriat, Alban Chassagne, Julie Balagué

Pebbledash Gallery, 2 Leswin Place,

Stoke Newington,

London N16 7NJ

Private View Saturday 24.10.09, 7 - 10pm

Gallery Open Sunday 25.10.09 – Friday 6.12.09, 11am – 6pm

Late Opening on Thursday 5.12.09 until 10pm

A DISTANCE BETWEEN aims to create a platform for the photographic image as a valid vehicle to question, communicate and debate the multiple facets of European identity.

www.adistancebetween.org

For press enquiries email info@exhibitx.co.uk or telephone Kevin Martin on 0207 2545833

itchy scratchy

2009-10-01T13:08:00.002-07:00

YOU ARE INVITED TO . . .

An exhibition initiated by Jason Evans

Preview Friday 2 October 6.30 - 9.30pm

Exhibition continues 3 October – 8 November 2009

Permanent Gallery, 20 Bedford Place, Brighton

Open: Thurs/Fri/Sun 1pm - 6pm, Sat 11am - 6pm

"I think of it as the picture/s that you print up, just to a small working size, to get a look at. The ones that interest and trouble you because there is something that you don't fully understand about them, as if you unconsciously did something. These pictures seem to signpost a new direction in a photographer's practice, they are transitional pieces, and precursors to a new phase or project. I think all the best photographers have the guts to move beyond the pictures they already know they can make, and spend time with the itchy scratchy pictures to work out what comes next."

Charlotte Cotton

Itchy Scratchy is an exhibition of photographs. The title is taken from this quote by Charlotte Cotton, where she describes the pictures which break photographers out of familiar ways of working. The exhibition affirms the role that happy accidents and epiphanies play in creative activity.

Itchy Scratchy was initiated by photographer/writer Jason Evans. All exhibitors have been invited to submit a digital file of an itchy scratchy image in a uniform size, to be reproduced on matt paper using an inkjet printer. The exhibition features a broad range of photographers from the emerging to those of international repute.

Visitors to the exhibition are able to purchase a raffle ticket. At the end of the show a draw will determine who has won which unique print. Proceeds from ticket sales will support the realisation of future exhibitions at Permanent Gallery.

Itchy Scratchy photographs will be viewable at http://www.permanentgallery.com soon. Raffle tickets will be available to purchase from the Gallery (during opening times, Thurs/Fri/Sun 1pm -6pm + Sat 11am - 6pm), and from the gallery website, as of Friday 2nd October. Raffle tickets are £50.

List of contributors :

Nik Adam, Marta Bakst, Jason Bascombe, Kevin Beck, Nicola Belson, David Blackmore, Peter Bobby, Michael Bodiam, Mark Bolland, Matt Burgess, Millie Burton, Polly Braden, Thom Bridge, Thomas Brown, Tommi Cahill, Helen Cammock, Sam Collins, Ben Crawford, Jason Evans, Niccolo Fano, Annabelle Fenning, Andrew Ferguson, Victoria Fornieles, Anna Fox, Carl Gent, Ruth George, Phillipe Gerlach, Simon Gilbert & Nik Adam, Nigel Green, Amy Gwatkin, Fiona Harvey, Peter Haynes, David Hendra, Laura Hensser, Todd Hido, Kelly Hill, Jan von Holleben, Mandy Lee Jandrell, Greg Jones, Maria Kapajeva, Shiho Kito, Paul Knight, Ioannis Koussertari, Matthieu Lavanchy, Patrick Lears, Patrick Lee, Wiebke Leister, Chris Linaker, Gordon MacDonald, John MacLean, Craig Mammano, Mike Massaro, Trent McMinn, Sherman McMinn, Shannon Michael Cane, Alexander Milnes, Tim Mitchell, David Moore, Ashima Narain, Luke Norman, Magali Nougarede, Tod Papageorge, Sam Pearce, Sarah Pickering, Oliver Pin-Fat, Oliver Poddar, Augusta Quirk, Milo Reid, Alex Rich, John Rose-Adams, David Rule, Viviane Sassen, Richard Sawdon Smith, Michael Schmelling, Aaron Schuman, Andy Sewell, Alexandria Da Silva, John Spinks, Sandra Stein, Christopher Stevens, Melanie Stidolph, Clare Strand, Kamei Takashi, Andreas Tauber, Kirsti Taylor Bye, George Thomas, Tviga, Nick Waplington, Harry Watts, Ruth Wiggins

http://www.jasonevans.info

http://www.permanentgallery.com

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Permanent

Gallery & Bookshop

20 Bedford Place

Brighton BN1 2PT

+44 1273 710389

info@permanentgallery.com

http://www.permanentgallery.com

http://www.permanentbookshop.com

Open:

Thurs/Fri/Sun 1pm - 6pm

Sat 11am - 6pm

cape farewell : art and climate change

2009-09-04T02:54:00.000-07:00

endangered species, siobhan davies

I went to a lecture at the Barbican last night and was extremely impressed with how Ruth Little, Literary Manager at the Royal Court Theatre, and Cheoreographer, Siobhan Davies, described the experience of visiting the arctic with Cape Farewell and being faced with 'not knowing' how to respond or what to think in a place where experience is so far removed from a more familiar environment. Ruth Little in particular described the importance of a need to shift one's quality of attention to 'seeing' rather than falling back on habit to quantify experience. Little recommended looking at Jill Bolte Taylor's TED talk - in which she describes how she experienced the process of having a stroke and realized how the loss of logic enabled her to have a powerful encounter with the sensory realm. It is a very moving talk and a great insight into how the left and right side of the brain respond to experience. Enjoy!

rinko kawauchi

2009-06-22T14:03:00.000-07:00

'I am often not sure why I am photographing things, but by the end of the third year I know. When the pictures provide the answer I know it is time to move on.'

Rinko Kawauchi in converstion

with Martin Parr, June 2009

hannes schüpbach

2009-06-11T06:53:00.000-07:00

Hannes Schüpbach (b. 1965) creates meditative and lyrical film diaries that explore the power and limits of the single shot and an idea(l) of beauty grounded in a fascination with nature. An accomplished painter and expert on textile art, Schüpbach uses 16mm cinematography to explore cinema’s painterly dimensions, bringing to his films a keen attention to color and light and their effect on mood and tempo.

Schüpbach’s meticulously structured silent films, discover a multi-layered world, often using superimpositions and reflections to explore the hidden depths of the places and people evoked within them.

adam broomberg and oliver chanarin

2009-06-11T05:47:00.000-07:00

Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin have worked together for over ten years. Their unusual approach to photojournalism has earned them a place amongst the most progressive photographers working on the front-line today

The long term collaborators constantly question the responsibility of the photographer and whether the photographs made will change the situation of the protagonist in the frame. They gain access to situations by researching stories meticulously before they arrive and choose a particular aesthetic for each specific project.

Citing diverse influences, from the music of John Cage to 'The Story of my Death' by the Italian, Lauro de Bosis, who succeeded in humiliating Mussolini by distributing ant-fascist leaflets in a solo flight over Rome before disappearing at sea - Broomberg and Chanarin encourage an audience to work harder and listen more closely to the stories they are told.

'The act of photographing is complicit - you are not a neutral witness.'

Broomberg and Chanarin

Photovoice Lecture Series

susan derges

2009-06-10T06:57:00.001-07:00

'The whole night became my dark room,' Susan Derges

richard long

2009-06-09T13:50:00.000-07:00

I like the simplicity of walking,

the simplicity of stones

I like the common means given

the simple twist of art.

I choose lines and circles because they do the job.

My art is about working in the wide world,

wherever, on the surface of the earth.

My work is not urban, nor is it romantic.

It is the laying down of modern ideas

in the only practical places to take them.

Richard Long, 1980

school run

2009-05-16T14:06:00.000-07:00

day four

2009-04-15T08:31:00.001-07:00

Sensitive Dependence is featured in DayFour issue 7 - 'You can't always get what you want'.

Inspired by the lyrics of the Rolling Stone's song by the same name - a disillusioned reflection on love, politics and the drug scene enveloping the group and their friends and a poignant message from Jagger to his then girlfriend, Marianne Faithful, a heroin addict seven months pregnant with their child.

Creative Director, Fiona Hayes asked contributing photographers to think about 'wishes, desires, lusts, expectations, hopes and what is actually important.' In these turbulent times we need to think carefully about what is significant. 'What makes us happy? What (who) do we really want? And what do we really need?'

'But as the song says, 'If you try sometimes you might find, you get what you need'. Creativity, passion, and support are the things we always need.'

Fiona Hayes, DayFour

DayFour is a beautifully produced magazine with inspiring images, stories and ideas - I am absolutely thrilled to be included in the line up of photographers whom I greatly admire - Esther Teichmann, Hin Chua, Ben Roberts, Alys Tomlinson, Julieta Sans and Gigi Cafali - amongst others!

fault lines

2009-04-02T14:07:00.000-07:00

An extension of his involvement in Indian politics and human rights, Amar Kanwar's multilayered films and installations prompt 'revelations, of different kinds, for different individuals.

Sean O'Toole interviews Kanwar in Frieze.

helen levitt

2009-03-30T12:02:00.001-07:00

Helen Levitt, whose photography caught 'fleeting moments of surpassing lyricism, mystery and quite drama' on the streets of her native New York, died at home in Manhattan on Sunday.

In his preface to Levitt's book, A Way of Seeing, James Agee wrote 'Like most good artists, Miss Levitt is no intellectual and no theorist; she works, quite simply, where she feels most at home, and that, naturally enough, is where the kind of thing that moves and interests her is likely to occur most naturally and in best abundance'.

'The artist's task is not to alter the world as the eye sees it into a world of aesthetic reality, but to perceive the aesthetic reality within the actual world, and to make an undisturbed and faithful record of the instant in which this movement of creativeness achieves its most expressive crystallization.'

For a retrospective of her work, see Helen Levitt: New York Streets 1938 to 1990s at lensculture and obituary in the Guardian by Amanda Hopkinson

the grain of voice

2009-03-19T08:08:00.000-07:00

Photography and the Grain of the Voice is an exhibition by 19 students from the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen, Germany, curated by Dr Wiebke Leister. The work was exhibited at the London College of Communication last week where it was received as an extremely accomplished and thought provoking body of work.

The photographers were asked to consider Roland Barthes' 1972 essay 'The Grain of Voice' as a lietmotif in the production of work that considered photography as performative. How in making the work the photographer becomes involved in an active engagement with the question of what a photographic voice can be and how it can relate to ideas of authorship in the making of and the thinking about photography.

The students posed many different questions in the process of producing the work - Who is speaking? And who is looking? What is the character of the author? Is there an element of fictional self portraiture involved? What kind of timbre does the visual voice have? What do we imagine off frame?

The photographers were attempting to find a gesture in their art that reached out to the viewer .... 'The 'grain',' for Barthes, 'is in the body, in the voice as it sings, the hand as it writes, the limb as it performs.'

I was asked to review the work of Johanna Kopp who produced a series of poetic portraits titled 'About Closeness'. Johanna is a sensitive artist who by looking intimately at gesture, facial expression, gaze and posture pared down the elements to capture a private moment of internalization and contemplation.

Taking, as a starting point, Barthes' description of the skill of a particular harpsicordist who was able to communicate a tremor from her inner body in her music - Johanna's project was a search for a way of making portraiture that touched on an interior moment. An attempt at a 'moment of truth', a shared moment of equilibrium.

We talked about Bettina von Zwehl's work - how she sets up a controlled situation in order to elicit a very private human emotion (Fur Alina), and Rineke Dijskstra, who also waits for a particular moment in which to photograph. In all there is a paring down of gesture and pose, a search for an internal moment, and a desire to become systematic and detached in order to reach that moment of non pose.

We also discussed how photographers project themselves on to their subject, the images are in fact self portraits, where an intimate moment is shared between the photographer and the subject.

The Grain of the Voice was an impressive body of work which drew on different readings of Barthes multi-layered text. I was particularly drawn to pared down palette of Anne Lena Michel's still lives in The Attempt of a Transformation of an Immediate Vicinity and the retro wit of Philip Ullrich's Next time it will be about the Solar System. Finally, a special mention for Philipp Gallon whose failed equation for building a grain enhancement machine was replaced with a grain of the self in Assuming a pose could reveal an expression of failure, when it is a neutral one. I was moved by this young artist's sincerity.

cia de foto

2009-03-12T14:59:00.000-07:00

Cia de Foto's video and photography montage was banned by the council at Derby's Format Festival last weekend but shown at the Photographer's Gallery on wednesday.

Members of the San Paulo based photo bureau live together and work in such a way that the singular author is rejected in favor of the collective.

All images are credited to Cia de Foto regardless of who actually took a picture. Pio Figueiroa described how the photographers work in a collaborative way that makes it 'impossible for us to know who to credit individually.'

Post production (significantly in this group - a female domain) is regarded as important as taking the pictures.

a shimmer of possibility

2009-03-08T14:03:00.000-07:00

Pittsburg (Man cutting grass), 2004

from a shimmer of possibility, Paul Graham/steidlMACK

'Perhaps instead of standing by the river bank scooping out water, it's better to immerse yourself in the current, and watch how the river comes up, flows smoothly around your presence, and gently reforms on the other side like you were never there.'

Paul Graham

British photographer Paul Graham, currently shortlisted for the Deutsche Borse Photography prize alongside Emily Jacir, Tod Papageorge and Taryn Simon, commented on his best shot in the Guardian.

Graham was nominated for a shimmer of possibility inspired by Chekhov's short stories. The work comprises 12 individual books in each volume a story of everyday American life is told in a small sequence of images. At times the quiet narrative breaks unexpectedly into a sublime moment - such as the moment above when Graham describes 'the sun burst through, and the rain came down, and every drop was illuminated.'

'A 'great shot' is the antithesis of what this work is about. It's about appreciating the flow of the moment, the rhythm and currents and the eddies of life, rather than neatly packaging the world into perfectly formed little jewels.'

I am interested in Graham's portrayal of the mundane moments of life that seem 'worthless' but, as he says, 'they form and shape our lives'.

A recent Q&A with Paul Graham published on PDN offers some provocative thoughts on documentary photography and how it is perceived in the art world. I have taken one quote, see below, for the full article follow the link above.

'My point is simply that the art world is traditionally attuned to perceiving what the artist "created", which in photography usually means that they pick up more on work with a synthetic quality - constructed scenes, Tableaux Vivants, staged pieces - these fit neater into this expectation and fit into the broader art world model of "what artists do" much more easily. However, the great photography which operates at the core of the medium - from Frank to Eggleston to Shore to Winogrand - doesn't fit that model, as it is taken from life directly, unscripted and unforced. That creates problems and is often misunderstood or marginalized as 'documentary or 'observational', Now nobody in their right mind can deny the power of what Frank did, or the best of Eggleston, or Robert Adams, but sadly there's a lot of folks that don't get it, and prefer the traditional model.

Having said that .... there's a lot of blame to lay in the photography community itself, for the plain dumbness and lack of discrimination that burdens the medium. We should fight that and be smarter and more discriminating in what we do, say and promote. It's an incredible medium, alive and direct, but we need to engage our hearts and minds in aspiring to make truly great work, that puts any doubts beyond reach.'

Paul Graham

the day Bourgeois moved me to tears

2009-03-01T13:01:00.000-08:00

The female of the species ... views of a series of paintings

entitled Femme Maison by Louise Bourgeois

I just stumbled across Will Gompertz's article in the Guardian 8th October 2008 on the impact of walking round the Louise Bourgeois exhibition at Tate Modern last October.

'All the Femme Maison (literally house woman/housewife) paintings share the same idea. In each one, a woman has a house covering her head, below which her naked body protrudes. She thinks she is safe and secure in her domestic prison, because that is all she can see around her. She has no idea that she is flashing her genitals to all and sundry, more vulnerable than ever. It's the stuff of nightmares where you are publicly exposed and shamed. These paintings succinctly sum up the struggle of every woman and their destiny to live with the responsibilities and constrictions of trying to maintain the balance of wife, mother and housekeeper while trying to retain a semblance of individuality in such sapping domestic circumstances. The simplicity of the paintings adds to the sense of entrapment; there wasn't the time for anything more studied or crafted.'

deep sleep

2009-02-27T14:13:00.000-08:00

Sweet Nothings, Vanessa Winship

Vanessa Winship drew my attention to this new online magazine that has just launched its inaugural issue. Deep Sleep was founded by and features work by a small group of contributors based in the same office in Shoreditch.

david spero

2009-02-27T12:42:00.000-08:00

Emma and John's, Tir Ysbrydol (Spiritual Land),

Britdir Mawr, Pembrokshire, 2004, David Spero

Settlements is a body of work that David Spero has been working on since 2004 and is only now reaching a conclusion. However, given the photographer's commitment to the project it is clear that there will be an on-going relationship with the communities he has clearly become involved with.

The artist, who graduated from the RCA in 1993, has spent time visiting and staying at the low impact communities located throughout the UK. Set in beautiful lush green countryside and dense forests these transitory homes are timeless, as Spero describes, 'these places look like they belong in the past, but at the same time they could be a future.'

In many ways the places are as far away from the manicured lawns, gardens and driveways of suburbia as one can imagine. The structures, artfully cobbled together from local natural and recycled materials, are built in harmony with the local environment to the extent that they seem to become part of the surroundings. Spero focuses on the the evolution of the settlements that see people come and go, where children are born, grow and educated in a world where the buildings emerge in a natural, organic and ad hoc way.

The communities work towards being as self sufficient and sustainable as possible, offering a refreshing antidote to consumer society. Camilla Brown, Senior Curator at the Photographers' Gallery described Spero's work as 'a powerful visual testimony to these people who chose to live their lives according to their ideological beliefs within a contemporary society.'

bettina von zwehl

2009-02-25T15:24:00.000-08:00

Alina, 2004 Bettina von Zwehl

Bettina von Zwehl spoke about her work last week and at the end of the lecture she gave the everyone in the audience a slide from the presentation - symbolically marking a move from slideshow/analogue to powerpoint/digital.

In the lucky dip I pulled out the image above which is from a series - created for a Photoworks commission - in which Royal College of Music students were photographed when totally absorbed listening to music for twenty minutes in the dark.

In the morning we had been introduced to Relational Art - time/place, effect, embodiment - and in a way I felt that Bettina's work bore the elements of this way of working as she is dependent on a reaction from the participant in order to create the work.

Bettina sets up situations in a specified place - her studio or on location - where she employs members of the public to work with her in the creation of an image. In this case she asked music students to listen to Fur Alina by Arvo Part in the dark for a prolonged period of time. The music - a calm, meditative and repetitive piece - is played through twice over a twenty minute period and at some point the artist sets off a sudden flash, perhaps once or twice - in order to capture a private moment of intense concentration. The resonant images become the embodiment of Bettina's original idea for the work.

By setting up what is almost a scientific experiment or laboratory situation, Bettina is able to capture moments of extreme beauty and quiet reflection that are both honest and distinctly human.

eventually, everything connects

2009-02-22T14:11:00.000-08:00

Peter Fraser, Untitled, from Ice and Water, 1993

Unfortunately, I missed Peter Frazer's lecture at LCC on February 11th, but looked at his website which is fascinating and read Gary Badger's essay, Eventually, Everything Connects.

In this eloquent piece, Badger describes how Charles and Ray Eames' remarkable eight minute cult movie, Power of Ten, became a formative inspiration behind Frazer's work, along with the time he spent with William Eggleston, 'the master', in Memphis.

''Inevitably, materials change their state or bound, both box and glass fragment have degenerated from being 'things of this world' to formless chaos' bound. The glass may even be considered a 'thing of value.' Frazer of course has already explored this in previous series, but here in the disparate nature of things to which he has attended, asking us to draw broader connections, make Peter Frazer not only a more difficult but a more ambitious piece of work, along 'universe in a grain of sand' lines. In these Chinese boxes of connections, Fraser might be proposing a model or metaphor for the world, its past, present and future, by tapping into a small part of the cycle that will reach closure eons into the future - formlessness to form to a new formlessness."

Gary Badger, 2005

esther teichmann

2009-02-22T13:35:00.000-08:00

esther teichmann, Mythologies, 2008

Esther Teichmann spoke at LCC a couple of weeks ago to an incredibly rude audience who seemed to think it was ok to come and go, talk, answer the phone and generally show little regard for the fact that this artist was showing not only beautiful but powerful and personal work.

It was difficult not to be overwhelmed by the creative energy of this young, prolific and clearly gifted photographer who splits her time between completing an MPhil at the RCA, lecturing at LCC and Brighton, producing ad campaigns and fashion shoots, and linking up with fellow creative spirit, Spartacus Chetwynd, on minibus forays to galleries in Berlin.

santu mofokeng

2009-02-12T13:47:00.000-08:00

Ishmael, Eyes Wide Shut

'One can't travel far within this country before coming upon shadowed ground of negative remembrances of violence and tragedy. This partly explains my peregrinations here in foreign lands. In 1997 I started to visit the shadow grounds of Europe and Asia. I wanted to see how other countries were dealing with places associated with negative memories. The demise of apartheid has brought to force a crisis of spiritual insecurity for the many who believe in the spiritual dimensions of life. Today this consciousness of spiritual forces, which helped people cope with the burdens of apartheid, is being undermined by mutations in nature. If apartheid was a scourge the new threat is a virus - invisible perils both.'

Santu Mofokeng, The Namib, Namibia, 1997

Exhibition runs January 14 - February 28, 2008 at Rivington Place

fay goodwin

2009-02-12T13:26:00.000-08:00

Leaping Lurcher, 1972

Copper Beach, Stourhead 1983

'I don't get wrapped up in technique and the like. I have a simple rule and that is to spend as much time in the location as possible. You can't expect to take a definitive image in half an hour. It takes days often years. And in fact I don't believe there is such a thing as a definitive picture of something. The land is a living, breathing thing and the light changes its character every second of every day. That's why I love it so much.' Fay Goodwin, 2004

24:2009

2009-02-09T06:25:00.001-08:00

24:2009 will be celebrating their sixth annual show in Greenwich. Every year since 2004 , between the hours of midnight New Years Eve and midnight New Years Day, 24 photographers have looked to find an image that sums up the essence of that hour for them - be it a social, political or an environmental concern - or a personal reflection of that moment in time.

This year 24photography will be staging two exhibitions, the first in The Royal Park Greenwich will feature the 24 images taken on the 1st January 2009 while the nearby Viewfinder Gallery will stage an interim retrospective, showcasing the 144 images created by the photographers who have contributed to the movement to date.

Nicky Wilcox, one of the founding members of 24photography, described the images, 'as a subtle catalogue of our time, raising questions of where we are and where we might be by 24:2010'.

I have been contributing images to 24photography for the past three years and the themes that have emerged in my own work are concerns for our fragile earth and ensuring a safe future for our children.

This year I chose to spend the evening of the 1st January 2009 in the Maternity wing at the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Wing of UCLH, where my own children were born in 2001 and 2004 respectively - the year 24photography was initiated. My son will be 24 when this project is complete and I can only hope that actions I take now will have some positive impact on his future world - however small that might be.

The evening I spent with doctors, nurses and parents at UCLH once again confirmed the immense respect I have for the staff at this hospital. The stories the nurses have to tell, the focus and dedication of the doctors and the visible pain of the parents is all to tangible and in a way to fragile to photograph. Instead I chose to photograph an empty cot and use the words written in a christmas letter to the staff thanking them again for saving the lives of twins born in the same month as my son.

The exhibition opens on the 24th February and runs through until the 19th March 2009.

daan van golden

2009-02-08T13:26:00.000-08:00

Youth is an art, 1992/2008

Daan van Golden appropriates images discovered in the world around him. His art draws on his own fascinations and 'out-of-the-ordinary' moments that occur in life. He finds beauty in the everyday and treats the mundane with integrity and respect, by showing us familiar things in a new way.

I caught the last day of van Golden's exhibition at Camden Arts Centre on Sunday which brought together paintings from the last thirty years along with photographs including a selection from the series Youth is an art, images of his daughter as she was growing up between 1978 and 1996.

There is a captivating symbiosis between the meticulously worked paintings and the fleeting moments captured of his daughter as she grew. Van Golden is a gentle artist able to perceptively capture a sense of beauty in the everyday which is at once joyful and serene.

olafur eliasson

2009-02-08T12:51:00.000-08:00

Beauty, 1993

Minding the world

'Today we cannot afford not to think about the environmental consequences of our individual actions; about the relation between the individual and the collective. And we have reached a stage where such deliberations can be integrated with our aesthetic feelings.'

Olafur Eliasson : Light Conditions

figuring landscapes

2009-02-07T14:34:00.000-08:00

Winter Light Sophia Dahlgren

I attended four of the screenings of a collection of compelling moving image works drawn from the political and cultural history that links the UK and Australia at Tate Modern this weekend. The works in Figuring Landscapes address questions of ecological survival, post industrialism, gender, the touristic gaze, and the social, political and cultural status of indigenous people in a post-colonial society.

Andrew Kotting's Jaunt up the Thames from my old stomping ground of Leigh on Sea to Westminster was a particular favourite, along with Matt Hulse's Sine Die, Tony Hill's vertigenous Downside Up, Dryden Goodwin's inspirational Flight, Sofia Dahlgren's mesmerising Winter Light, Emily Richardson's Petrolia, and Margaret Tait's touching Portrait of Ga.

Devised by Catherine Elwes and Steven Ball, Figuring Landscapes is a riveting and enlightening body of work brought together in a series of screenings over the weekend. I am sorry I can't make it for the final day tomorrow which will be followed by a discussion led by Steven Bode, director of film & video umbrella.

joy gregory

2009-02-07T14:18:00.000-08:00

Joy Gregory is presenting a new body of work that has been created as part of an Artists Residence celebrating 60 years of the NHS at University Hospital Lewisham. The work is a series of light boxes featuring a major figure in the history of the hospital and accompanied by readings of new work by Poet in Residence, Gale Burns.

purpose

2009-02-06T13:59:00.000-08:00

The latest edition of purpose - an elegant French webzine - has dedicated it's latest issue to childhood - which is of particular interest to me. The issue is a curious mix of extremely well known and lesser known work accompanied by an original soundtrack.

daniel lillie

2009-02-05T04:12:00.000-08:00

We are the Maesglas boys

We ain't got no money

We drinks lots of beer

We drink Double Diamond 'cos it's full of good cheer.

When you'r walking down Maesglas Road

doors and windows open wide

The you'll hear ol'Sheppy shout

Get your fuckin' woodbines out!

We are the Maesglas boys

I saw Daniel Lillie's project 'I'll see you on the far post' presented at the Folio Forum at the Photographer's Gallery in January and was impressed by his sensitive portrayal of working men and their families on the Maesglas estate Newport, Wales.

The images are intimate and appealing, they give a strong sense of day to day life in a tight-knit community where different generations of the same family support and sustain one another. Such close relationships are central to survival when faced with the insecurity of low-paid transient employment.

'Historically, socially and culturally the workingman has been a figure of strength and integrity, a foreboding presence both in the family and in the community.' Is how Lillie describes the inspiration behind his work. 'These images are about what men do with their time, be it with their family, friends or alone. They are about working and not working.' A sentiment prescient of the current dismal climate where working men's jobs hang in the balance.

Lillie's presence as documenter is ghost-like, there is clearly a sense of mutual respect and trust, both on behalf of the photographer and the subjects he is spending time to record. Although an 'outsider' it is clear that he has been accepted into the community as an insider able to witness and document the intimacies of ordinary life.

The photographer was angered by Andrew O'Hagan's recent George Orwell Memorial lecture 'What went wrong with the working class?' which argues that 'the English working class is dead - it's traditions and values have been replaced by sentimentality and the false promise of celebrity and credit cards.'

'With my project I intend to show that, while not the political force it once was, the working class exist and are not a Jeremy Kyle watching, McDonald's eating, Vicky Pollard-esque, catalogue dependent, benefit scrounging, powerless body of people.'

Lillie's images were received with praise at the Folio Forum lead by Joy Gregory, who encouraged him to return and continue documenting the community. I feel that this is a timely body of work that records life on the estate in a social realist tradition - reminiscent of work by Chris Killip and Graham Smith, and explored by filmmakers, Mike Leigh and Ken Loach - and looks at how a community faces and addresses the prospect of a bleak future.

It will be interesting to see if traditional working class values will rise to sustain and strengthen when times are bad.

jean dieuzaide

2009-02-05T03:37:00.000-08:00

'People often think that it is necessary to go to the far end of the world to act as a photographer. But photography is not synonymous with being removed from one's usual surroundings; it also has to do with rediscovering the common things of everyday life that we can no longer see, things we do not take the time to see.The thousands of objects that share our intimacy have something to tell us, but our eye does not listen to them: they play with light to draw our attention, and they are surely sorry for our indifference, as they feel they are part of ourselves.'

Jean Dieuzaide, French Photographer b 1921 d 2003

Val Williams' obituary of Jean Dieuzade

sweet nothings

2009-01-26T13:20:00.001-08:00

vanessa winship

2009-01-25T13:07:00.000-08:00

I am very drawn to Vanessa Winship's work which I have been following with interest over the past few months. Winship was awarded the World Press Photo Award and the first Sony Award for her celebrated project, 'Sweet Nothings'. Currently featured at the National Portrait Gallery, Host Gallery , The Photographer's Gallery and in various publications.

The sensitive portraits of rural school girls from the borderlands of Eastern Turkey are poignant and alluring. The young girls are photographed on the cusp of great change - both in themselves and what they represent for the future of women in Turkey.

'I had been living and working in the region for almost a decade, and in Turkey itself for more that four years. I was drawn by ideas of borders and belonging.' comments Winship on the work. 'One enduring image that had always struck me wherever I travelled was the schoolgirls in their little blue dresses, the same in every town, city or village. These dresses with their lace collars and sweet messages embroidered on the bodices, were the symbol of the Turkish state, but the girls who wore them were simply little girls.'

The photographer describes the school girls as representative of the many who live on the borderlands between Iraq, Iran, Syria and Armenia all wearing 'similar dresses' and inhabiting a land that is harsh and unforgiving.

'Knowing their status I wanted to give a space for the girls to have a moment in front of the camera,' describes Winship who opted for a slower more formal way of making the portraits with every frame composed at the same distance to give an equality to each girl.

Sweet Nothings is a quietly powerful body of work. The images resonant in front of the viewer as Winship has captured, very beautifully, the awkward innocence of these little girls who are unwittingly taking their place in photographic history.

The quotes by Vanessa Winship are taken from an article by the photographer on her work at lensculture

new year great hope

2009-01-21T02:31:00.000-08:00

peace is in our hands

2008-12-24T01:00:00.000-08:00

annie liebovitz

2008-12-04T14:33:00.000-08:00

I went to the Annie Liebovitz exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery today and was very moved by the small rectangular gallery that features the pin-up walls that Liebovitz created to define the book/exhibition that covers her life between 1990 and 2005. Alongside the familiar shots of celebrities, politicians and heads of state are sensitive snapshots her family, friends and lover. The juxtaposition of these tender, funny every-man images enhance and inform. The image of Liebovitz's mother dancing on the beach with her grandson resonates more powerfully than the portrait of Mikhail Baryshnikov posing on another shore.

There is no question that Liebovitz is a true master of celebrity portraiture - but what is revealed in this exhibition is her humanity. Her love and deep affection for her parents, siblings, children, and soulmate, Susan Sontag. There are a few villains in this piece ... but many more heroes. It is Liebovitz's personal heroes that are celebrated here, and it is her clear, unreserved love for them that is the most moving thing about this exhibition.

'When she shot the veteran photographer Richard Avedon – then nearing 80 and frail – he fretted about the result. Later, calmed, he wrote to Leibovitz: "Thank you for taking care of me." Care, perhaps, is what makes her great.' Charles Darwent, The Independent

earthrise

2008-11-30T13:12:00.000-08:00

Robin McKie's article in The Observer celebrates the 40 year anniversary of the Apollo 8 mission to the moon - the first human journey to another world - and the photograph taken by Bill Anders on Christmas Eve, 1968.

'Arguably, his picture is also the most important legacy of the Apollo space programme. Thanks to this image, humans could see, for the first time, their planet, not as continents or oceans, but as a world that was 'whole and round and beautiful and small,' as the poet Archibald MacLeish put it.

'Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark,' the US astronomer, Carl Sagan, noted. 'There is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.' The opinion is shared by Sir David Attenborough. 'I clearly remember my first sight [of the Earthrise photograph]. I suddenly realised how isolated and lonely we are on Earth.'

Indeed, says the UK space historian Robert Poole, the first popular expressions of ecological concern can be traced to the publication of that picture: dazzling blue ocean, the jacket of cloud and the relative invisibility of the land and human settlement. 'It is a rebuke to the vanity of humankind,' says Poole. 'Earthrise was an epiphany in space.'

'It was,' Borman later recalled, 'the most beautiful, heart-catching sight of my life, one that sent a torrent of nostalgia, of sheer homesickness, surging through me. It was the only thing in space that had any colour to it. Everything else was either black or white. But not the Earth.' Or as Lovell put it, our home world is simply 'a grand oasis'.

However, of all the efforts to sum up the story of Earthrise, the best is made by TS Eliot in last of the Quartets:

'We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.'

extracts from Robin McKie's article,
The mission that changed everything
guardian.co.uk, Sunday November 30 2008
The Observer, Sunday November 30 2008

photo credit: NASA

mumbai

2008-11-28T13:12:00.000-08:00

I was staying at the Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai when the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya was destroyed by Hindu nationalists on December 6th, 1992. I reported from the hotel to RTHK, BBC Radio HK, and remember clearly describing how India Gate was deserted and a city that was normally in perpetual motion had been stalled. I travelled through the city with Indian film maker, Vasudha Joshi, and witnessed the city under siege. It was anticipated the riots at Ayodhya would spread to south - thankfully they didn't and within days the city was back to it's chaotic self.

The shocking events of the past 24 four hours have captivated me in a peculiar way. As did the weird firework display of the first Gulf War - and later, two Boeing 767 jets flying headlong into the twin towers, New York. Something strangely familiar. Fact or fiction?

A major 21st Century metropolis brought to a screaming halt by an extremely well organised, informed, efficient and fanatical group. The targets : high finance and religion.

wear good shoes

2008-11-17T03:55:00.000-08:00

Photograph because you love doing it, because you absolutely have to do it, because the chief reward is going to be the process of doing it. Other rewards -- recognition, financial remuneration -- come to so few and are so fleeting. And even if you are somewhat successful, there will almost inevitably be stretches of time when you will be ignored, have little income, or -- often -- both. Certainly there are many other easier ways to make a living in this society. Take photography on as a passion, not a career.

Alex Webb Magnum

hide now

2008-11-16T09:18:00.000-08:00

Hide Now by Glyn Maxwell has been shortlisted for the T S Eliot Award. The winner of this prestigious award will be announced in January.

Maxwell's slim book of poetry was reviewed by Adam Newey in the Guardian on Saturday.

We would love Hide Now to win especially as Umi is appearing on the cover!

I received this message from Glyn in the summer - "By the way I love that cover image - my 11-year-old daughter asked me why I didn't use her face, so I said oh they used a professional model... Anyway your daughter did great, I'm delighted to have that cover!" best Glyn

precious lives

2008-11-13T05:27:00.000-08:00

My photo essay was published on the guardian.co.uk today and after the terrible stories of child abuse this week it is good to know that there are many that treasure life and strive to save those in dire need.

obama

2008-11-10T14:19:00.001-08:00

in praise of uclh's neonatal unit

2008-11-05T04:53:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had the privilege of photographing the last few hours of UCLH's Neonatal unit at the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital on Huntley Street before they moved to their new high-tech home. My children, Umi and Sol, both received treatment in the unit in 2001 and 2003 respectively.

Returning to the hospital brought back so many memories. I recognized - and was remembered - by some of the amazing staff that work tirelessly to save the lives of babies 24/7.

It was an emotional day - to experience again this strange warren of rooms where babies born many weeks early are sustained and protected until they are strong enough to be sent home. I met Mothers who had been by their babies sides for seven months, cradling tiny doll-like limbs, hands, feet and delicately fragile heads, until little by little the babies pull through. And new mothers with their precious scraps of life encased in plastic bubbles that they gently reach to hold and caress like no other treasure. My heart goes out to them.

The Neonatal unit is a world apart - a place between spaces - where miracles really happen right alongside the most unbelievable heartbreak.

book launch - street or studio

2008-11-02T06:04:00.001-08:00

Tate Modern are planning a launch for the book on the evening of Friday 7 November as part of November's Late at Tate Britain.

'We'll be there with our friends from Flickr and Blurb, and we'll have some copies of the book for you to look at and a slideshow of the winners'. Tate Modern

The launch is part of the monthly Late at Tate Britain, and there's a bar, DJs, talks and tours, exhibitions and lots more - so come along and join the party!

nearly nothing

2008-11-01T13:37:00.000-07:00

In the summer Louise Forrester, curator at the Viewfinder Gallery, invited me to be part of the Nearly Nothing exhibition that rekindled the historic debate as to whether photographers can be considered image makers rather than purely documenters. The exhibition further questioned how much information we need to read an image, whether we need to be able to read an image at all, and what level of accompanying text is required to make such images comprehensible.

It was a good experience to be invited to take part in the exhibition which bought together a group of international artists. I was extremely impressed with how Louise curated and organised the work and I look forward to the possibility of working with her on projects in the future.

Thank you Louise - and good luck with all future ventures.

Nearly Nothing...

By Viewfinder Photogr...

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street or studio tate modern

2008-10-23T13:48:00.000-07:00

In the summer the Tate collaborated with Flickr and Blurb to create a photobook of urban portraits to coincide with the major exhibition Street & Studio : An Urban History of Photography, held at Tate Modern, London 22 May - 31 August 2008.

Photographers were invited to contribute urban portraits via the Street or Studio Flickr group. From the thousands submitted 100 were selected by Juergen Teller, Ute Eskildsen (Curator of Street & Studio) and Heather Champ (Flickr).

My image of a girl reading her text messages on her mobile phone outside the silent rave at the Queen Elizabeth Hall was taken on the summer solstice 2008 and made it into the photobook.

destinasian:viewfinder

2008-10-23T06:53:00.000-07:00

My image Behind the Taj will feature in a photography exhibition at the Viewfinder Gallery in Greenwich.

Curated by Bombay Mix, DestinAsian:Viewfinder is part of a multimedia festival celebrating the Indian Subcontinent. The photography exhibition at the Viewfinder Gallery runs alongside events at the National Maritime Museum and the Greenwich Picture House.

The exhibition has been selected as the top exhibition to visit during Photomonth 08 - the largest photography festival in the UK, by 24 Hour Museum.

DestinAsian:Vi...

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By Exhibition guest ...

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for my daughter by glyn maxwell

2008-10-16T13:19:00.000-07:00

If I call this poem that, I have as new

A pattern of three words to learn as you

Have everything. The day you get the gist

Of what is becoming you'll have missed

The point you were. Then you'll have reached the stage

You stay at, insofar as every age

In writing is a step along a shelf

Where words are stowed and weather like a self.

The height is dizzy but it stays the same

And the ladder gets you there when you make a name

Of something I keep calling you. That date

We won't forget to celebrate,

Like rain we needed after a long spell

Of what was blissful but incredible

hide now

2008-10-16T08:55:00.000-07:00

In Hide Now, Glyn Maxwell shows how the times have begun to warp time itself: in the poet's vision, the past rears up again with its angry ghosts, the present is racked by nightmares marital and climatic, and the future has already come and gone. All the stories of the earth seem menaced by just one - some cover their eyes and ears to it, some run and hide.

Glyn Maxwell selected my picture of Umi behind glass for the cover of his latest collection of work, published in October by Picador Poetry.

treehugger

2008-10-16T02:59:00.000-07:00

sensitive dependence was recently featured on treehugger

sensitive dependence

2008-10-16T02:33:00.000-07:00

sensitive dependence is a series of images that explore our relationship with the natural world as though through the eyes of a child. It is a body of work that looks at the fragility of the world around us, a child's affinity with nature and concerns I have with environmental damage and the legacy we are leaving our children.

sensitive dependence refers to chaos theory and the idea that a butterfly's wings might create tiny changes in the atmosphere that may ultimately alter the path of a tornado. The flapping wing represents a small change in the initial condition of the system, which causes a chain reaction culminating in large scale alterations of events.

The images relate to the idea of cause and effect and the transience of existence - they are beautiful, compelling and ephemeral. They suggest we hold this fragile world in our hands.

kelly hill

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if you go down to the woods today ...

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umi and maud featured on the Millennium website

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MAP2010 Final Show

Terry O'Neill Award

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Foto8 Summershow 26 July – 4 September 2010

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** 2010 Bursary Winners Announced **

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you can't always get what you want

a distance between

A DISTANCE BETWEEN

itchy scratchy

cape farewell : art and climate change

rinko kawauchi

hannes schüpbach

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susan derges

richard long

school run

day four

fault lines

helen levitt

the grain of voice

cia de foto

a shimmer of possibility

the day Bourgeois moved me to tears

deep sleep

david spero

bettina von zwehl

eventually, everything connects

esther teichmann

santu mofokeng

fay goodwin

24:2009

daan van golden

olafur eliasson

figuring landscapes

joy gregory

purpose

daniel lillie

jean dieuzaide

sweet nothings

vanessa winship

new year great hope

peace is in our hands

annie liebovitz

earthrise

mumbai

wear good shoes

hide now

precious lives

obama

in praise of uclh's neonatal unit

book launch - street or studio

nearly nothing

street or studio tate modern

destinasian:viewfinder

2010 Bursary Winners Announced