Forthcoming Exhibition

Paul Graham
Photographs 1981 - 2006

Opening it’s doors to the public on 20th April, photographer Paul Graham’s imminent retrospective, comprising a collection of over 25 years of work, is set to be a huge hit.  Graham’s compellingly beautiful work has consistently worked towards redefining the term ‘documentary’, finding in the scenarios and societal rituals of the everyday a certain theatricality, and creating an ongoing visual language immersed in elements of storytelling and narrative.  

the exhibition is free and runs form April 20th-19th June 2011.

A wide selection of Graham’s work can be found here

http://www.paulgrahamarchive.com/

Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin

Fig.

“the history of photography is intimately bound up with the idea of colonial power. Documentary photographers today have a worrying amount in common with the collector/adventurers of past eras. As unreliable witnesses, we have gathered together ‘evidence’ of our experiences and present our findings here; a muddle of fact and fantasy.” - Broomberg and Chanarin

Theatres of the Real

Joanna Lowry, David Green, Jan Baetens

‘Theatres of the Real’ is an incredibly beautiful book I was given as a gift recently, published with major publishing house Photoworks.  This book offers a compelling re-evaluation of the Documentary photograph, and as it’s blurb suggests, straddles ”the boundaries between fact and fiction, these images create a hallucinatory vision of contemporary Britain”, with each of the three authors writing an essay to convey their own ideas.  

Jan Baetens offers an interesting interpretation of Bill Nichol’s theory of the ‘pre-enactment’, which she quotes is ‘the more or less authentic (re)construction of events that are yet to happen’, and Joanna Lowry proposing that we are entering a new realm - that of the ‘post-document’, definitely gives us a lot to think about.  It is a fascinating read for those interested in the paradoxical balance between truth and fiction, and the way our notions of the ‘documentary’ and the ‘staged’ are deconstructing and forming a new generation of photographic artists altogether.  

Photoworks publications are always so simply and beautifully put together, and this is definitely not one to be missed - generous bodies of work of each of the eight artists (which include, in my opinion, some of the most important contemporary artists working in this field) are included.  

The artists included are: Sarah Dobai, Annabel Elgar, Tom Hunter, Sarah Pickering, Nigel Shafran, Clare Strand, Mitra Tabrizian and Danny Treacy.

Annabel Elgar

Selected Works

“The scenarios that emerge from this process of allegorical bricolage are ones that we instinctively recognize because, baroque though they might be, we encounter them every day in our newspapers and televisions and at night-time we visit them again in our dreams.”

- Joanna Lowry on Annabel Elgar

Each of Annabel Elgar’s projects seem to build into this same ethereal void - this imaginary created place that is found in a sort of state of flux, in a moment where it’s purpose is unknown.  It’s as if these photographs are empty stage sets filled with props and waiting in this silent stasis ready to present their story when (if ever) the opportunity presents itself.  

Elgar makes beautifully elaborate images that depict a folkloric mix of woodlands and wooden shacks.  This mythical uncanny that she creates evokes a sense of alienation, and returns to us the innate suspicion we have long had when looking at images - why is everything so well placed? why is the scenery so fairytale-esque?  Everything is almost too perfect.  But tied up with this kind of imagery is also a repetition of the mundane - kitchens, bedsits, windows - and it is easy to find ourselves confused with the sense of uncanny we are faced with.  Elgar’s work embodies this familiar/unfamiliar paradox, tempting us with a story but never quite telling it leading us to project our own stories upon the scenes we see and in turn bringing our inextricable relationship to narrative, and indeed the need to make sense of what we see, to light.  

Stefan Ruiz

The Factory of Dreams

A series of photographs depicting sets used in the Televisa studios in Mexico City for use in telenovelas.  ’The Factory of Dreams’ explores the makeshift spaces that are used in the construction of stories - where the same narrative strategies play out over and over again, making a larger comment on our inextricable relationship to narrative. 

Esther Teichmann

Selected Works

Teichmann makes breathtakingly beautiful bodies of work with an alluring painterly aesthetic and strong narrative qualities.  Each photograph draws upon a kind of utopian ideal - a dream or a fantasy - which reflects the fundamental sense of loss and yearning that remains so heartfelt through her work.   

www.estherteichmann.com