The Sunday Times 50th Anniversary Exhibition

“My God, this is going to be a disaster.”

These were the words Roy Thompson the owner of The Sunday Times uttered back in 1962 when the paper became the first to include a colour magazine.  The idea was thought of as ‘barmy’ but within a short time quarter of a million new readers came on board.  Fifty years on, the idea of a weekly paper without some kind of supplementary magazine is incomprehensible.  

The Sunday Times celebrated 50 years since it launched the first colour magazine this January/February with an exhibition of some of its most celebrated, iconic images at the Saatchi Gallery in London. 

As I am studying narrative at the moment, I thought what better time to go and see some of these images from the ground-breaking magazine for myself.

I occasionally read The Sunday Times.  These days it comes with so many supplements/magazines it keeps me entertained way beyond Sunday and well into the week.  I have enjoyed the magazine mainly for its features on far off places, places and peoples we’ve forgotten exist and the realities of war from a variety of perspectives.  The magazine buys into the cult of celebrity in a manner that is tolerable for me.  I cannot bear the modern obsession with ‘celebrity’ and the never-ending tirade of drivel and tell all tales about people that are famous for simply being famous.  I don’t care where these people eat, what their dogs are called or whether they’ve had plastic surgery.  However, I do want to know more about my kind of celebrity – someone who has performed an outstanding achievement who we can look up to and admire.  The Sunday Times magazine in general embraces that type of celebrity. 

The images in many of our best-selling magazines are more preoccupied with revealing the shocking news that some celebrities have cellulite, have put on weight or are wearing clothes from a high street store.  They don’t have much of a story to tell.  They are about unveiling evidence that these people that the magazines idolise are flawed and imperfect. 

I want more out of what I read and see than that.  I want to be able to produce better images that that.  I want to appeal to an audience with more interests in life than that. 

The exhibition included some of the work of the world’s finest photographers to have worked for the magazine – Don McCullin, David Bailey, Eve Arnold and Uli Weber to name a few. 

Overall I found the exhibition very interesting as it was less a trip down memory lane than a history lesson.  I found myself recalling events I had forgotten had occurred and asking myself was it really that long ago since such an event occurred.  With a good mix of good photojournalism covering the landing on the moon, the Iraq war, and the fall of Gadaffi to the rise of the Pop Princess Kylie Minogue and Prince Charles and Diana, the images provided a balanced picture of life in the last 50 years. 

Uli Weber's image of Kylie Minogue

The picture that will stay in my memory for years to come will be of Jose Pequerio an Iraqi veteran who lost 40% of his brain in a grenade attack.  The photographer is Eugene Richards and the image is taken from his series War is Personal. It is both shocking and thought provoking.  It depicts sadness and hope, the human being’s ability to survive and the power of a mother’s love. 

The work of Eugene Richards

There were some drawbacks though.  The project rooms were pretty small and had a lot of images crammed in which would be fine when the gallery was quite.  However I went on the last Saturday of the exhibition (they’ve since extended it) and it was packed.  This made navigating the rooms extremely difficult and left me wishing I was taller to be able to see over the sea of people and getting a better view.  Perhaps the longer captions for the images further delayed the flow of people. 

The combining of image and text in this exhibition provided the viewer with a greater insight into the work on display.  The use of a caption which was printed as a header in bold acted as a teaser to encourage the viewer to read the text below it - some 100-200 words - depending on the piece displayed.  This accentuated the picture narrative style which is something I hadn't experienced in an exhibition before. 

On the plus side, it gave me some food for thought and a good introduction to an iconic magazine. 

More information:

http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/public/magazine/article858993.ece

Zarina Bhimji at the Whitechapel Gallery

The OCA organised a study visit on 11 February to see the work of Ugandan born British photographer/film maker Zarina Bhimji. 

Having not even heard of her before and not seen how film can be used alongside stills in an exhibition, I was interested in going to see how she used film narratives to explore her heritage and ancestry.

Bhimji was born in Uganda in 1963 to Indian parents and moved to Britain in 1974 a couple of years after Idi Amin expelled the Asians from the country.  Landscapes and buildings haunted by their layered past are the subjects for images. 

The exhibition traces 25 years of her work including the premiere of her latest film Yellow Patch which was inspired by trade and migration across the Indian Ocean.   Haveli palaces and the colonial offices in Mumbai harbour provide the subjects for some close up painterly images together with the desert, the sea and the boats which set the atmospheric scene for several different journeys.

Out of Blue her first film is included in this collection.  The film is a visual journey across the Ugandan countryside with the sounds of fire, birds and humans.  However, in both her films there is a distinct lack of humans only the traces that they were there, that the places she shows us were inhabited but are now empty. It is almost as if the places she introduces us to has its own story to tell us, the abandoned homes, the empty graveyard and the deserted countryside.  It is a narrative of the Asians leaving Uganda, their homes and the breaking up of families.

The collection also includes a series of stills from Out of Blue and Yellow Patch along with other photographs.  Bhimji made the decision to work with film instead of digital as she felt it gave her more depth and achieved the artistic effects she wanted to achieve.  This can be seen very much in her photographs from the series titled Love with the saturated colours and painterly effect. 

Her decision to move away from still images and into film was because she felt that her images and subjects had more to say and needed a different medium that would allow for this. To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect when I sat down to watch Out of Blue. The museum guide had spoken about the disjointed sound and the lack of people in her films.  This is something we are not used to.  I wondered how she achieved a 25 minute film in this way.  The impact was almost instantaneous.  From the beginning the booming sound set the dark and eerie atmosphere that something was not right, it invoked a sense of fear. 

The image titled Frightened Goats from Love stood out to me.  Here we could see a series of graves near a small building which looked like a house.  Some of these looked half dug.  The sense of abandonment in this image is very strong.  There are no people.  This is what remains when people are forced away from their families and the graves of their parents.  This is the void that is left after expulsion.

Illegal Sleep is an image of a row of rifles laid up against a wall taken from Out of Blue.  I liked the colour in this image.  In the film this images comes to life as we see the shadows of people walking past the guns.  This drives a fear through us.  These guns come to life with the introduction of man.  Her work is very much about the echo it creates rather than bare faced facts.

Polaroids from her research were also displayed.  As I am now studying narrative and looking at my workflow I found it very interesting to see work from her lengthy recces and insight into the way she worked.

Her work commissioned by Harewood House examined the hidden histories of black people and the slave trade.  I especially liked the mirrors that contained etched newspaper copy about the details of the servants that ran away.  We are all forced to look at ourselves and those around us as we read. 

Other images in this collection made use of transparency lightboxes which gave a surreal effect. 

 She Loved to Breathe – Pure Silence combined black and white photographs with the colourful spices, turmeric and chilli powder which was arranged on the floor.  This work comments on the controversial immigration protocols in Britain during the 1970s. 

Before I visited this exhibition I would say I had never considered using film for a narrative.  Since the visit I can’t help but think of ways it could work alongside my work and my interests.  Being Irish and having experienced the abandoned countryside in the 80s due to widespread emigration, I can see the beauty in the land which has its haunted layered histories from invasion, independence, civil war, immigration and most recently from boom to bust.  Maybe one day I will dare to explore this further. 

More information:

Whitechapel Gallery

Zarina Bhimji

Clip from Out of Blue

http://flamin.filmlondon.org.uk/showcase/assets/showcase_items/out_of_blue

Thomas Struth: Photographs 1978-2010

The OCA organised study visit to Thomas Struth at the Whitechapel Gallery led to the discovery of a hidden gem – Struth himself.

My first introduction to Struth was of his place in the deadpan aesthetic where art photography is moved outside of the sentimental and subjective and the viewer is faced with the emotional detachment and sometimes clinical command of the photographer.

His work invites us to take pleasure in examining his photographs by not allowing us to immerse ourselves psychologically in his work. 

The museum series is what I had seen in books and the advertisement for this exhibition is probably what most people would associate with him.  I had also been informed about the size of his pictures – some up to 4 metres long.  How can such a vast space be filled and provide satisfaction while remaining devoid of emotional attachment.  How does he invite you in and when you are in, what is it that you see and holds your attention? And is this where his work ends with a series of images of people looking at the magnificent works of art in museums and galleries across the world?

Struth is interested in the whole, the global, in line with the beliefs of Gestalt psychology – the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. His work in this exhibition is divided into five areas: Audiences, Streets, Paradise, Families and Buildings.

Audiences – his photographs of visitors to museums tells us a lot about collective cultural behaviour.  The Pergamon Museum in Berlin (although staged using extras) gives us an insight into the very individual experiences of the visitors to the historical relics of the past and their visit to the modern gallery experience thus exploring the conflation of time.

The development of city streets is charted in his black and white images of street scenes from New York, Dusseldorf and Paris.  These streets are deserted which allows their strong central perspective to become an important feature in his documentation of illustrating locations where a city is at its most ‘condensed.’ 

Progress through the ages can be seen from the modern perspective in his images of the laboratories and the cutting edge of technology like the Space Centre on Cape Canaveral. Here he uses central perspective to condense the scene to make the space centre feel even smaller considering the huge development it is.  I couldn’t help feel lost in these technical images.  What is that?  I felt a little frustrated by the lack of something to see. In this modern age, the major developments that are shaping our world can’t be seen, unlike those of the period of industrialisation 150 years ago.

The images of wires and the spectrometer further increased my feeling of isolation as the point was proved that this is something I couldn’t understand.  However, this is an effective way to present technology that can’t be explained.

Families, although a series of family portraits, was very different to any of his other work but also left you trying to make sense of what you see.  The only instructions given by Struth to his subjects was to look into the camera.  They could organise themselves any way they chose.  This made the viewer question more about the people in the frames, who they were and why they chose to present themselves in the way they did.

Paradise consists of a series of pictures taken in jungles across the world – a collection of ‘unconscious places’.  These places do not need to be read or interpreted – they emphasise the viewer’s presence and their sense of self. 

The Paradise series is one where the sheer size of the prints is important.  Having viewed the images online before the visit I found it hard to see what they were about.  However. If you are to take a moment to look deep into oneself you need to have the jungle big enough to do so. 

There is no vanishing point in some of these images so there is no focus – just the viewer and the jungle in a unique viewing experience.

Struth’s work varies across his career from the black and white images of city streets to the colour rich jungles in Paradise, however there is central themes that are consistently explored and questioned.  His images carry the cultural, historical and psychological structures at work in the modern world. Time, perspective and detachment are important as well as size, colour and our ability to see when sometimes seeing requires a different sort of vision.

Street Markets of London in 1940s – Walter Joseph

Walter Joseph was Jewish and fled Germany during the war with his brothers staying in the Isle of Man.  After war he made his way to London where he was employed in newspaper photographic laboratories.  He remained a keen amateur/semi professional photographer throughout his life but was always very doubtful about his photographic skills.

The British Library has just acquired this collection which was presented as part of the London Street Photography Festival. 

The series of images are based on markets in the East End of London after the war. They capture a time where goods were limited due to rationing and the effects of the war.  The people in his images are carrying on with life regardless and seem to have a positive outlook.  They include:

·         Jewish stall holders

·         Clothing, fruit and vegetable and toy stands

·         Rabbits for sale

·         Goldfish seller with his jars of fish laid out on a broken brick wall

·         Puppy seller

·         One man band

·         Wireless salesman with his batteries and wireless on display

·         Escapologist

The most striking this for me in these images is the bombed out buildings in the background of most of the pictures.  This is a constant reminder of what has just happened – the war – but it is contrasted with the visual display of life in the market traders. 

I particularly like the series of images of the escapologist who could escape any situation but post war East End London.

Joseph’s work reminded me in ways of Maier’s as he focused on those less well off in life, elevating them from their broken down surroundings and breathing new life into them. 

More information

London Street Photography Festival

Vivian Maier: A Life Uncovered

Vivian Maier is one of the most talked about photographers in recent months and as part of the London Street Photography Festival, her work was exhibited for the first time in the UK. 

Maier was an amateur street photography who’s body of work is based in New York and Chicago from the 1950s up until 1970s. In Chicago she worked as a nanny for the Gensburg family where she had access to a dark room allowing her to develop her own black and white films.  It is said that she never left her house without her camera and was obsessive about taking pictures.

During those years she took about 100,000 photographs focusing on the marvels and peculiarities of American life. Her streetscapes elevated and dignified the characters she shot.  She was particularly drawn to those less well off in society and her work embraces the down and outs in society, the people living in the rough part of town and children with little in life.

In the 1970s Maier moved to using colour and with that move her focus moved slightly away from the people she was so obsessed with capturing in black and white.  In colour she shifts to shooting graffiti, newspapers and the artefacts of a modern city. 

It wasn’t until 2007 that her work was discovered with all her undeveloped films being sold off at auction.  John Maloof being the purchaser has since dedicated his time to bringing her work to life and reconstructing her archive.

This exhibition consists of forty eight framed images in black and white and colour together with a selection of her silent films.

I particularly liked the streetscapes in black and white and the portraits of the children, beggars and old people she took in Chicago and New York.  In her work I could see the elements of design I have been studying at work – the implied triangles, diagonals, rhythm and the relationships between points.  I also feel she made good use of contrasts – young and old, rich and poor, old and new and light and dark. 

The one drawback of this exhibition was the fact that the light was reflected on the glass frames making it difficult to see the actual pictures over your own reflection.  I first thought this was light coming from the windows of the German Gymnasium building but the building lights were also accountable. 

More information:

London Street Photography Festival

Vivian Maier

London Street Photography Festival - Nick Turpin & Nils Jorgensen

Last week I went to Entente Cordial - Images from France and England an exhibition by Nick Turpin and Nils Jorgensen which is part of the London Street Photography festival. 

The exhibition was held in part of the main concourse of St Pancras International Station, the station being the gateway to France and Europe.  It was a very apt place to hold it. 

Nick Turpin although based in France has very much a love/hate relationship with the country.  As founder member of In-Public - the street photographers' group, Turpin is a highly acclaimed street photographer.  The focus of this body of work explores the contrasts of modern France, a country which is balanced precariously between tradition and Americanisation. 

The work also challenges the French privacy laws which prohibit the publication in France of street photographs taken in France.

Whilst the images explore some of the traditional aspects of French society, for example the image of a boy waving the French flag outside a building and scenery shots from aerial angle, they tend to have a quirky side to them. In Lyon there is a car at an intersection which looks pretty normal until you notice that there are feet haging out of the boot.  Likewise there is the image of an escaped cow in the middle of Lyon bringing the traditional country into the modern city.  

Nils Jorgensen is also a member of In-Public.  His work in this exhibition focuses on English street photography encapsulating the eccentricities of the English themselves.  He has adopted a gentle humourous approach to his work that is laced with witty observations.  

My favourite was an image of a balding man viewing a painting in a gallery, the painting being a landscape with a tree.  The leaves on the tree  provide the man with the perfect toupe and cover up his bald patch. 

The is also the image of an autumnal tree with a man walking behind it.  His legs are all that is visible and they in essence give legs to the tree making it look like it is walking. 

I found this work really enlightening as I have lately being discovering how to enhance my street images by including people and humour.  I also found it useful because I am studying the aspects of design and could see many implied triangles and lines in their work.  This something I wouldn't have looked for without studying design. 

I also found that the contrasts of the two countries made for an interesting exhibition. 

The exhibition layout was interesting too.  It was made up of 6 large free standing devices and one side was dedicated to France and the other to England.  This further enhanced the contrasts between the photographers style, the subject matter and the cultures of two neighbouring countries.

More information:
London Street Photography Festival 2011
Nick Turpin
Nils Jorgensen
In-Public

Paul Graham - Whitechapel Gallery

Photographs 1981-2006

I went to the OCA’s visit to The Whitechapel Gallery to see Paul Graham’s exhibition on 21 May. 

Graham is one of the leading photographers working in fine art photography and has played a strong role in the development of photography.  He constantly challenged and reinvented the medium and its presentation. 

His approach centres on remixing the rich history and traditional genres of photography allowing him to create his unique visual language.

The main themes that run through his work in this collection is political and social issues, history, society and trauma.  He also works on the themes of denial and concealment which is particularly strong is Empty Heaven. The viewer cannot instantly see the significance of the images in this collection.  He reflects Japan’s investment in surface appearances and suppressed memories of the past.

Television Portraits is a series of images taken of people while they watched television.  In his interview which was being played at the gallery, he referred to having his subjects completely engrossed in something else while he was capturing them as ‘every photographer’s wet dream.’

This type of work was less about portraiture and more about observation.

His early British colour work can be seen in A1: The Great North Road, 1981-82 which is his version of the American road trip only in this case the trip starts in London and moves up north to Edinburgh charting the stark contrast between the north and the south along the way. 

His use of colour for this type of social documentary work was revolutionary at the time when black and white photography was seen as the only medium for this type of photography.

Beyond Caring is a series of work shot in dole offices around the country creating a unique view of unemployment in the mid-eighties. This work was shot mainly with his camera on his knee which gives rise to the unusual angles at play.  

Being Irish I found Troubled Land particularly interesting. Here Graham is working in Northern Ireland during the Troubles fusing traditional landscape photography with war reportage.  Each image contains a discreet signifier such as a Union Jack flag in the distance on a tree or a landscape setting with trees with political posters on them, which reveals the struggle over the land. 

This is also a series that explores the use of colour.  The colours of the Union Jack make the image which would not have been possible to do in black and white.

We discussed presentation for this collection as other students had seen these images in books but as they were so small the discreet signifiers could not be seen.  This has given me some food for thought about how presentation can enhance your work and how you should think about how your work is presented. 

Leaving the social and political themes behind, Graham’s work in the late 80s and into the 90s began to focus on history, society and the psychological effect of trauma on individuals and nations. This can be seen in New Europe where he journeyed across nine European countries to show the traces of European history at a moment of great political upheaval.   The most striking image of this collection is of a man looking onto blocks of flats in Germany.  He has no shirt on and he only has one arm. We are left to wonder about how he lost his arm and how the future looks for this country.

Ceasefire is an abstracted representation of the political.  It shows a temporary halt to hostilities in Northern Ireland 6-8 April 1994 through a series of cloudy skies taken above scenes of sectarian violence like Bogside, Omagh and Shankill. 

End of an Age is a series of portraits of young people across Europe on the cusp of adulthood.  Graham uses the combination of flash photography and the atmospheric lights of night clubs in this series.  The blurry shots with the ambient light depict those that are drunk and not wanting to be aware of the changes they are going through.  The flash photography produces a clearer more unforgiving image.

American Nights uses deliberately overexposed images leaving the viewer to search out the content and meaning alongside hyper-real colour images to emphasise the discrepancies of wealth in North America.

Moving the US in 2002, Graham’s work focuses on capturing moments as he sees them.  A shimmer of possibility records his journeys across America where he finds beauty in everyday events as they unfold in front of his camera.  

I found the themes and how Graham uses the photographic medium to depict them very interesting.  I think some of his work is very clever and I enjoyed having to look at an image for some time before I finally discovered its meaning. I had never real thought too much about how you can use colour so effectively especially given today’s obsession with black and white images.   

Paul Graham’s images can be viewed at http://paulgrahamarchive.com/index.html

As added bonus to this study day, Magnum photographer Ian Berry's exhibition This is Whitechapel was on too.  This work was commissioned in the 70s when Whitechapel was in a period of change as the established Jewish community was moving away and making room for the Asian population to take its place. 

The exhibition consists of a series of 30 black and white images which would have been the norm for social documentary at that time.  It was interesting to compare his work with that of Graham's use of colour in his documentary work. 

On the whole I feel Graham's work was more powerful and had more of an affect on me.  I think the sheer size of his images and the presentation of his work was more interesting than Berry.  I also liked the use of colour which is a little weird seeing as I always felt before that B&W images had more punch.  Graham has certainly made me think more about the colours I see and how they can play an important part in my work.