We had a very full day visiting several Exhibitions at different locations. The theme for the event is New Documents and it has been curated by Magnum documentary photographer Martin Parr.
We began with a visit to Strange and Familiar: Three Views of Brighton on show at Brighton Museum and Art Gallery. In this exhibition three well known photographers were commissioned to produce a set of photographs which present their response to the city of Brighton and Hove. Sadly Alex Soth was unable to produce a set of images due to work permit issues. Instead, he presented a set of photographs made by his daughter with limited direction from Soth. These were interesting in that they presented an uninhibited and naive view of the city from a 7 year old girl. Indeed the perspective of the images is that of a small girl looking up. Whilst interesting and thought provoking in terms of what can be achieved when one frees oneself of adult inhibitions, I did not find this work too instructive. The second contributor was Stephen Gill, whose 'Field Studies' work I had come across in my documentary photography course. Stephen's work is very radical. He had collected detritus from the streets, beaches etc of the city and had included some items in each of his images. The effect is for the photographed scene to appear as a backdrop for the items resting on the film inside the camera. I was left wondering what the linkages were between the background and the items....the recorded interview with Stephen was not very forthcoming in this regard. The final contributor was Rinko Kawauchi. She produced two sets of photographs. One made in the winter with the murmuration of starlings over the sea. I liked this set a lot...as the images were taken at twilight the colour is predominantly blue and whilst the images show flocks of the birds there is a sense of isolation and sadness about them. Here is an example of her work..
Murmuration by Rinko Kawauchi
Her second set was taken in Brighton during the spring festival. Her subject this time is people. I had the feeling she was trying to depict people flocking to the event. Her subjects were anonymously presented generally shown only from the waist downwards. Many of the images had great tension with the compositions very unbalanced and unresolved. For me this set did not work as well as the murmuration group.
Our next stop was the House of Vernacular at Fabrica. This was an installation with seven collections of vernacular photographs, ranging from baby photographs to images of the interiors of African dictators private jets. To be honest this was not for me....although the jets were in my opinion the most interesting. They were presented as a typology in a very consistent manner and the quality of the work was excellent. Wonder how the photographer Nick Gleis managed to persuade the owners of the jets...shows anything is possible if you try hard enough.
Next stop was Lighthouse and the 'Queer Brighton' exhibition showing work by Molly Landreth and Zoe Strauss. I was particularly impressed by Molly Landreth's sensitive portraits. She seemed to be able to gain the confidence of her sitters such that they have relaxed their guard. The resulting images reveal the sensitive and vulnerable personalities underneath the veneer of exotic clothing and make up. Here are a couple of her photographs:
EJ Scott, Brighton, England (2010) by Molly Landreth
Johanna and Anna, Brighton, England (2010) by Molly Landreth
Finally we visited the showpiece of the festival, 'New Ways of Looking' at the former Co-operative Department store. There was much to see here. The work 'Sleepers' by Dhruv Malhotra was well received. I felt that the series of images worked well to document the situation of many homeless people who sleep outside in India's big cities. Here is an example of his work...
Untitled, from the series Sleepers, by Dhruv Malhotra
Personally I was more taken by the series of photographs 'Windows' by Oscar Fernandez Gomez a Mexican taxi driver. They are presented as a typology of sorts with each image a scene on his travels. Every image has the same framing with the door window of the taxi clearly visible. Here is one of his photographs...
Windows by Oscar Fernando Gomez
I also spent some time looking at the Simon Roberts Election project ...on first sight they left me a bit cold. Although I have to admit as I spent more time looking at the images I began to see more in them – perhaps this was Simon Roberts’ intention…to make us look and think. There is something of Stephen Shore in these images in my view. This could be simply the format used- large format 10x8- which is very static but has the ability to capture immense detail.
All in all a good day out and great to meet with and talk photography with tutors and a student from the OCA. I will sign off with an image of my own. The day in Brighton was also the day of the London to Brighton Vintage car rally....here is a piece of the action.
Finish of London To Brighton Rally 2010
Postscript.... I have looked some more into the influences on Simon Roberts' photography and judging from this quote from an interview in 2009 about the 'We English' work there is no doubt that Stephen Shore's work had had an influence on Robert's style...'I’ve long been fascinated by the tradition of the road trip in photography. Two of my early influences, the photographers Stephen Shore and Joel Sternfeld, have both employed extended journeys as an avenue for exploring America’s cultural landscape.'
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