Do not miss the incredible work of Denis Dailleux at Box Gallerie in Brussels.
He will be at the closing reception on November 2, 2019 from 4 to 8 PM.
More information: HERE
Monday, October 28, 2019
Brussels: Denis Dailleux Egypte/Ghana
He will be at the closing reception on November 2, 2019 from 4 to 8 PM.
More information: HERE
Friday, October 25, 2019
Amsterdam: Brassaï
Foam is proud to present the first retrospective of Brassaï in the
Netherlands. The French photographer of Hungarian descent is considered a
key figure of 20th-century photography.
Brassaï (1899- 1984) created countless iconic images of 1930s Parisian life. He was famous for capturing the grittier aspects of the city, but also documented high society, including the ballet, opera, and intellectuals - among them his friends and contemporaries like Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí and Henri Matisse. The exhibition at Foam traces his career with over 170 vintage prints, plus a selection of drawings, a sculpture and documentary material.
Brassaï gathers many of the artistic facets of the photographer, from photos to drawings of female nudes. It is organized in twelve thematic sections: Paris by Day, and by Night, Minotaure, Graffiti, Society, Places and Things, Personages, Sleep, Pleasures, Body of a Woman, Portraits – Artists, Writers, Friends and The Street. Each is very different from the next – reflecting the diversity of Brassaï’s photographic work.
Brassaï is organised by Fundación MAPFRE in collaboration with Foam.
More information: Foam Museum
More exhibitions: All About Photo
Brassaï (1899- 1984) created countless iconic images of 1930s Parisian life. He was famous for capturing the grittier aspects of the city, but also documented high society, including the ballet, opera, and intellectuals - among them his friends and contemporaries like Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí and Henri Matisse. The exhibition at Foam traces his career with over 170 vintage prints, plus a selection of drawings, a sculpture and documentary material.
Brassaï gathers many of the artistic facets of the photographer, from photos to drawings of female nudes. It is organized in twelve thematic sections: Paris by Day, and by Night, Minotaure, Graffiti, Society, Places and Things, Personages, Sleep, Pleasures, Body of a Woman, Portraits – Artists, Writers, Friends and The Street. Each is very different from the next – reflecting the diversity of Brassaï’s photographic work.
Brassaï is organised by Fundación MAPFRE in collaboration with Foam.
More information: Foam Museum
More exhibitions: All About Photo
Saturday, October 19, 2019
London: Shot in Soho at Photographer's Gallery
Although the area of Soho is relatively small (one square mile) and bordered by some of London’s richest and most commercialised streets, it has remained a complex place of unorthodoxy, diversity, tolerance and defiance.
Shot in Soho is an original exhibition celebrating Soho’s diverse culture, community and history of creative innovation as well as highlighting its position as a site of resistance.
Through a range of photographs, ephemera and varied presentations, the project reflects the breadth of life in a part of the capital that has always courted controversy and celebrated difference. It comes at a time when the area is facing radical transition and transformation with the imminent completion of Cross Rail (a major transport hub being built on Soho’s borders) set to make a landmark impact on the area.
This is a rare opportunity to see outstanding images from renowned photographers including William Klein, Anders Petersen, Corinne Day, alongside other photographers whose work in Soho is lesser known such as Kelvin Brodie, Clancy Gebler Davies and John Goldblatt. The show also includes a new commission by Daragh Soden.
The exhibition draws on the history, the myths and the characters of this hotbed of unpredictability, disobedience, eccentricity and tightly-knit communities.
Part movie-set, part crime scene, part unfolding spectacle, Soho in recent decades has been the centre of the music, fashion, design, film and the sex industry – a place of unresolved riddles, a place of shadows and also somewhere to call home for incoming French, Italian, Maltese, Chinese, Hungarian, Jewish and Bengali communities – perhaps here is the prototype for multicultural open London.
Astonishingly Soho has remained a village at heart – maybe due in part to the way it was purposefully hidden from view behind Nash’s sweeping Regent Street crescent – there tucked away and locked within a tight street grid that has remained unchanged for centuries.
In many ways Soho has remained London’s rebellious teenager. It has been a place where anything goes and as creative as it has been sleazy.
At the Photographer's Gallery until February 9, 2020
More information: HERE
More exhibitions: HERE
Shot in Soho is an original exhibition celebrating Soho’s diverse culture, community and history of creative innovation as well as highlighting its position as a site of resistance.
 |
| John Goldblatt Untitled, from the series ‘The Undressing Room’, 1968 © John Goldblatt Courtesy of the artist’s estate |
Through a range of photographs, ephemera and varied presentations, the project reflects the breadth of life in a part of the capital that has always courted controversy and celebrated difference. It comes at a time when the area is facing radical transition and transformation with the imminent completion of Cross Rail (a major transport hub being built on Soho’s borders) set to make a landmark impact on the area.
This is a rare opportunity to see outstanding images from renowned photographers including William Klein, Anders Petersen, Corinne Day, alongside other photographers whose work in Soho is lesser known such as Kelvin Brodie, Clancy Gebler Davies and John Goldblatt. The show also includes a new commission by Daragh Soden.
The exhibition draws on the history, the myths and the characters of this hotbed of unpredictability, disobedience, eccentricity and tightly-knit communities.
Part movie-set, part crime scene, part unfolding spectacle, Soho in recent decades has been the centre of the music, fashion, design, film and the sex industry – a place of unresolved riddles, a place of shadows and also somewhere to call home for incoming French, Italian, Maltese, Chinese, Hungarian, Jewish and Bengali communities – perhaps here is the prototype for multicultural open London.
Astonishingly Soho has remained a village at heart – maybe due in part to the way it was purposefully hidden from view behind Nash’s sweeping Regent Street crescent – there tucked away and locked within a tight street grid that has remained unchanged for centuries.
In many ways Soho has remained London’s rebellious teenager. It has been a place where anything goes and as creative as it has been sleazy.
At the Photographer's Gallery until February 9, 2020
More information: HERE
More exhibitions: HERE
 |
| Anders Petersen Soho, 2011 © Anders Petersen Courtesy of the artist |
London: Feast for the Eyes – The Story of Food in Photography
Exploring the rich history of food photography through some of the leading figures and movements within the genre including: Nobuyoshi Araki, Nan Goldin, Martin Parr, Man Ray, Cindy Sherman, Wolfgang Tillmans and Weegee.
Encompassing fine-art and vernacular photography, commercial and scientific images, photojournalism and fashion, the exhibition looks at the development of this form and the artistic, social and political contexts that have informed it.
Food has always been a much-photographed and consumed subject, offering a test ground for artistic experimentation and a way for artists to hone their skills. But even the most representative images of food have rarely been straightforward or objective. Food as subject matter is rich in symbolic meaning and across the history of art, has operated as a vessel for artists to explore a particular emotion, viewpoint or theme and express a range of aspirations and social constructs. With the advent of social media, interest in food photography has become widespread with the taking and sharing of images becoming an integral part of the dining experience itself, used as instant signifiers of status and exacerbating a sense of belonging and difference.
Feast for the Eyes looks particularly at how food is represented and used in photographic practices and brings together a broad-range of artists all of whom harness the history and popularity of food photography to express wider themes. Crossing public and private realms the works on show evoke deep-seated questions and anxieties about issues such as wealth, poverty, consumption, appetite, tradition, gender, race, desire, pleasure, revulsion and domesticity.
Presented over two floors, and featuring over 140 works, from black and white silver gelatin prints and early experiments with colour processes to contemporary works, the exhibition is arranged around three key themes: Still Life traces food photography’s relationship to one of the most popular genres in painting and features work that is both inspired by the tradition and how it has changed in the course of time. Around the Table looks at the rituals that takes place around the consumption of food and the cultural identities reflected through the food we eat and people we eat with. Finally, Playing with Food shows what happens when food photography is infused with humour, fun and irony. The exhibition will also feature a number of magazines and cookbooks which provide an additional visual and social history of food photography.
Feast for the Eyes traces the history and effect of food in photography, simultaneously exploring our appetite for such images while celebrating the richness and artistic potential of one of the most popular, compulsive and ubiquitous of photographic genres.
Exhibition organised by Aperture, New York
Curated by Susan Bright and Denise Wolff
At the Photographer's Gallery until February 9, 2020
More information: HERE
Find out more exhibitions: All About Photo
Encompassing fine-art and vernacular photography, commercial and scientific images, photojournalism and fashion, the exhibition looks at the development of this form and the artistic, social and political contexts that have informed it.
 |
| Weegee Phillip J. Stazzone is on WPA and enjoys his favourite food as he’s heard that the Army doesn’t go in very strong for serving spaghetti, 1940 © Weegee/International Center of Photography, |
Food has always been a much-photographed and consumed subject, offering a test ground for artistic experimentation and a way for artists to hone their skills. But even the most representative images of food have rarely been straightforward or objective. Food as subject matter is rich in symbolic meaning and across the history of art, has operated as a vessel for artists to explore a particular emotion, viewpoint or theme and express a range of aspirations and social constructs. With the advent of social media, interest in food photography has become widespread with the taking and sharing of images becoming an integral part of the dining experience itself, used as instant signifiers of status and exacerbating a sense of belonging and difference.
Feast for the Eyes looks particularly at how food is represented and used in photographic practices and brings together a broad-range of artists all of whom harness the history and popularity of food photography to express wider themes. Crossing public and private realms the works on show evoke deep-seated questions and anxieties about issues such as wealth, poverty, consumption, appetite, tradition, gender, race, desire, pleasure, revulsion and domesticity.
Presented over two floors, and featuring over 140 works, from black and white silver gelatin prints and early experiments with colour processes to contemporary works, the exhibition is arranged around three key themes: Still Life traces food photography’s relationship to one of the most popular genres in painting and features work that is both inspired by the tradition and how it has changed in the course of time. Around the Table looks at the rituals that takes place around the consumption of food and the cultural identities reflected through the food we eat and people we eat with. Finally, Playing with Food shows what happens when food photography is infused with humour, fun and irony. The exhibition will also feature a number of magazines and cookbooks which provide an additional visual and social history of food photography.
Feast for the Eyes traces the history and effect of food in photography, simultaneously exploring our appetite for such images while celebrating the richness and artistic potential of one of the most popular, compulsive and ubiquitous of photographic genres.
Exhibition organised by Aperture, New York
Curated by Susan Bright and Denise Wolff
At the Photographer's Gallery until February 9, 2020
More information: HERE
Find out more exhibitions: All About Photo
 |
| Martin Parr New Brighton, England, 1983–85 © Martin Parr/Magnum Photos |
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
Milan: Rankin from Portraiture to Fashion
In the first its kind, Rankin's first solo exhibition in Milan since his 2016 Fashion Week project Outside In, Rankin: From Portraiture to Fashion allows the iconic photographer to experiment with one of his most complex gallery productions to date. Showcasing Rankin's picks of his favourite images - including those of his best known subjects and his more conceptual work. Rankin: From Portraiture to Fashion is an archival tour through Rankin's best known work and introduces this industry-leading photographer to a new generation of photography collectors. Taking place across four months this show will rotate work, constantly evolving in time with Milan's cultural calendar - celebrating, amongst others, Vogue Photo Festival (November), Fashion Film Festival (November) and Women's Fashion Week (February). Allowing the photographer to explore not only his own work but the cultural appetites and changing moods of a leading European city.
On view at 29 ARTS IN PROGRESS from October 18 until February 24, 2020
More about the exhibition: 29 ARTS IN PROGRESS
More exhibitions: All About Photo
 | ||
| Eva in Green 2010, Elle Russia, Model: Eva Green © Rankin |
More about the exhibition: 29 ARTS IN PROGRESS
More exhibitions: All About Photo
Friday, October 11, 2019
London: Open Space presents Ubiquitous Surfaces at SEAGER Gallery
14 - 30 November 2019
Curated by: Rita Aktay
OPEN SPACE presents Ubiquitous Surfaces, an exhibition that explores two kinds of surface that have become integral to the human experience; the surfaces of the city and the surfaces of images; the architectural facade and the screen. The two are not separate, but they increasingly resemble each other; the discolouring of a facade is now most reminiscent of a degrading image.
Ubiquitous Surfaces brings together works by nine Istanbul-based artists, as well as works from the Huma Kabakcı Collection. Taking Istanbul as a case study, the artists’ works collectively explore how the production and recording of images shape our relationship with the city. The exhibition follows from a series of talks, titled Not / Seeing The City, which took place at SALT in Istanbul, with exhibiting artists Oddviz Collective, Alper Şen (Artıkişler Collective) and Serkan Taycan, who discussed developing technologies of vision and their place in understanding urban transformations.
The works of Serkan Taycan, Larissa Fassler and Erdal İnci all reference Taksim Square, a politically significant public space in Istanbul. Looking at it through different means of image-making, from GIFs to cartography, the artists follow the surface movements of people on the concrete expanse, observing, tracing and rearranging their interactions. Oddviz Collective, Kerem Ozan Bayraktar and Lara Ögel look more closely at the actual surfaces of walls, facades and streets, which have become the sites of inscription for political histories. The surfaces they play with are the interfaces between the city and its inhabitants, carrying both expressions and erosions. Ara Güler, Berkay Tuncay, Artıkişler Collective & Sevgi Ortaç’s works question how images build collective visual memories of the city. Reaching from mid-century analogue photography to handy-cams and broken jpegs, they look at how images disseminate meaning and affect.
All of these artists record, document, reproduce, montage, erase and manipulate images of the city - either those that are formed directly on its surfaces, or those transposed onto screens, in an effort to process the density of information and find new possibilities for interaction.
Open Space
Open Space is an itinerant arts organisation that supports emerging creative practices and promotes dialogue in the arts through an annual programme of projects in unexpected spaces. Since its inception Open Space has collaborated with various projects and organisations including Alt, Block Universe, Delfina Foundation, IKSV, The Art Department and SALT. Previously Open Space Contemporary, Open Space has re-launched in 2019 with its first annual programme and a new visual identity. openspacecontemporary.com
Rita Aktay
(b.1997, Istanbul) completed her BA in Fine Art and History of Art at Goldsmiths University and is currently undertaking an MFA in Curating. In her research she focuses on the epistemological, political and affective dimensions of visual technologies. Her recent work includes ‘Here We Are All Moving Images’ as part of DeMo Festival and the artist residencies she curated at Hartslane Studios, London.
More information about the event: HERE
All About Photo Exhibitions: HERE
Curated by: Rita Aktay
OPEN SPACE presents Ubiquitous Surfaces, an exhibition that explores two kinds of surface that have become integral to the human experience; the surfaces of the city and the surfaces of images; the architectural facade and the screen. The two are not separate, but they increasingly resemble each other; the discolouring of a facade is now most reminiscent of a degrading image.
 |
| A view from Eyüp by Ara Güler (1975). Image courtesy the artist and Open Space |
Ubiquitous Surfaces brings together works by nine Istanbul-based artists, as well as works from the Huma Kabakcı Collection. Taking Istanbul as a case study, the artists’ works collectively explore how the production and recording of images shape our relationship with the city. The exhibition follows from a series of talks, titled Not / Seeing The City, which took place at SALT in Istanbul, with exhibiting artists Oddviz Collective, Alper Şen (Artıkişler Collective) and Serkan Taycan, who discussed developing technologies of vision and their place in understanding urban transformations.
The works of Serkan Taycan, Larissa Fassler and Erdal İnci all reference Taksim Square, a politically significant public space in Istanbul. Looking at it through different means of image-making, from GIFs to cartography, the artists follow the surface movements of people on the concrete expanse, observing, tracing and rearranging their interactions. Oddviz Collective, Kerem Ozan Bayraktar and Lara Ögel look more closely at the actual surfaces of walls, facades and streets, which have become the sites of inscription for political histories. The surfaces they play with are the interfaces between the city and its inhabitants, carrying both expressions and erosions. Ara Güler, Berkay Tuncay, Artıkişler Collective & Sevgi Ortaç’s works question how images build collective visual memories of the city. Reaching from mid-century analogue photography to handy-cams and broken jpegs, they look at how images disseminate meaning and affect.
All of these artists record, document, reproduce, montage, erase and manipulate images of the city - either those that are formed directly on its surfaces, or those transposed onto screens, in an effort to process the density of information and find new possibilities for interaction.
 |
| Boat and workers at the dock by Ara Güler (1957).Image courtesy the artist and Open Space |
Open Space
Open Space is an itinerant arts organisation that supports emerging creative practices and promotes dialogue in the arts through an annual programme of projects in unexpected spaces. Since its inception Open Space has collaborated with various projects and organisations including Alt, Block Universe, Delfina Foundation, IKSV, The Art Department and SALT. Previously Open Space Contemporary, Open Space has re-launched in 2019 with its first annual programme and a new visual identity. openspacecontemporary.com
Rita Aktay
(b.1997, Istanbul) completed her BA in Fine Art and History of Art at Goldsmiths University and is currently undertaking an MFA in Curating. In her research she focuses on the epistemological, political and affective dimensions of visual technologies. Her recent work includes ‘Here We Are All Moving Images’ as part of DeMo Festival and the artist residencies she curated at Hartslane Studios, London.
 | ||
| Still from Centipedes by Erdal Inci (2015).Image courtesy the artist and Open Space |
All About Photo Exhibitions: HERE
Monday, October 7, 2019
Hong Kong: Ed van der Elsken: Hong Kong 1959–60
3 Oct 2019 – 28 Feb 2020
Celebrating its 5th birthday, F11 Foto Museum is proud to present “HONG KONG the way it was”, an exhibition of over 130 beautiful photos taken in 1959 -1960 by Ed van der Elsken (1925 – 1990), one of the most influential Dutch photographers in the 20th century. This will be the first time the HONG KONG series is shown in its entirety.
In this collection, van der Elsken shows his great warmth and hope for old Hong Kong, which he described as the “prettiest of harbour cities” during his 13-month round-the-world trip. While staying in Hong Kong for three weeks, he was able to capture the essence of cityscapes, town views and people of the city at that time. There is a touch of familiarity in these prints, yet there are also many fascinating “new” objects, practices and building structures that are long gone. Through van der Elsken’s eyes, visitors can reminisce and discover the disappeared Hong Kong of times past.
The exhibition is open for public viewing from 2pm to 7pm, Tuesdays to Saturdays (closed on Sundays, Mondays and public holidays). Please email to info@f11.com, or call 6516 1122 for group visit appointment.
Admission Fee: HKD100 for adults. HKD50 for students and seniors aged 65 or above. Free admission for the disabled and children aged 11 or below.
Guided tours are available every Saturday and they are free with Museum admission
More information F11 Foto Museum
 |
| Ed van der Elsken: taken from his book "Hong Kong the Way It Was“ © Ed van der Elsken courtesy of F11 Fotomuseum |
Celebrating its 5th birthday, F11 Foto Museum is proud to present “HONG KONG the way it was”, an exhibition of over 130 beautiful photos taken in 1959 -1960 by Ed van der Elsken (1925 – 1990), one of the most influential Dutch photographers in the 20th century. This will be the first time the HONG KONG series is shown in its entirety.
In this collection, van der Elsken shows his great warmth and hope for old Hong Kong, which he described as the “prettiest of harbour cities” during his 13-month round-the-world trip. While staying in Hong Kong for three weeks, he was able to capture the essence of cityscapes, town views and people of the city at that time. There is a touch of familiarity in these prints, yet there are also many fascinating “new” objects, practices and building structures that are long gone. Through van der Elsken’s eyes, visitors can reminisce and discover the disappeared Hong Kong of times past.
The exhibition is open for public viewing from 2pm to 7pm, Tuesdays to Saturdays (closed on Sundays, Mondays and public holidays). Please email to info@f11.com, or call 6516 1122 for group visit appointment.
Admission Fee: HKD100 for adults. HKD50 for students and seniors aged 65 or above. Free admission for the disabled and children aged 11 or below.
Guided tours are available every Saturday and they are free with Museum admission
More information F11 Foto Museum
Cape Town: The Other Side of Christmas by Barry Salzman
On view at Deepest Darkest Gallery in Cape Town November 7 - December 29, 2019
Barry Salzman is an award-winning contemporary artist who currently works in photography, video and mixed media and whose projects have been shown widely around the world. His photographic work in particular, began with a fascination for the practice as a teenager, during a time when it served as a way for him to grapple with the racial segregation in Apartheid South Africa.
Today, his work continues to explore challenging themes around social, political and economic narratives, often coming down to the core concept of identity. Acutely relevantand brave in its willingness to confront, Salzman's photography garnered the 2018 International Photographer of the Year Award in the Deeper Perspective category at the International Photography Awards (IPA).
Born in Zimbabwe, Salzman's family relocated to South Africa, but he elected to leave the country in the mid 1980s, and has been based in New York City, USA for the last 30 years. That being so, his experience of the USA has largely been limited to Manhattan, with the artist identifying more as a New Yorker than an American, and a naturalized citizen at that. He struggled to assimilate into American culture, often identifying as "foreign" to his fellow Americans - a tension which bleeds into his work and forms the basis for his exhibition, The Other Side of Christmas. He currently lives between Cape Town and New York.
In his artist statement for the show, Salzman writes: "When the time came for me to consider the next phase of my life as an artist, I first set out to understand what other parts of America really looked like. I wanted to see beyond the flimsy veil of its official image of equality and opportunity, comfort and confidence - 'the land of the free and the home of the brave'."
To do so, he set out across the Southern USA, documenting his observations through the lensand building a substantial body of work exploring and responding to this stimulus. In The Other Side of Christmas, Salzman mines numerous themes - identity, place, belonging - andin large part examines what it means to be an 'American'.
He began working on the resulting documentary series around the time of the 2014 American midterm elections, the precursor to the divisive 2016 Presidential elections and continued through Christmas of that year. Now, in 2019, the series has become even more pointed, not just in the America of the Trump administration, where issues of identity, naturalization, citizenship and belonging are so heightened; but across the socio-political globe, in a world irrevocably affected by mass movements of refugees and asylum seekers. The Other Side of Christmas's penetrating gaze can indeed be extrapolated outwards.
In its stylistic execution, the photographic series draws on the rich tradition of the road trip -that journey of discovery that the open road presents and its capacity to facilitate understanding. Salzman states: "As I traversed the country, it was blatantly apparent that for many Americans, perhaps even the majority, the lives they live have little bearing on the promise of that often romanticised dream held by so many who seek to be 'American'.
"An historic and defining example of the road trip across America as the subject and vehicle of the documentarian is provided by Swiss photographer Robert Frank - specifically, his workin 1955 to 1956. Indeed, Frank inspired subsequent explorations by many other photographers, including Salzman, who duly credits Frank as an influence.
Frank's ambition for "observation and record of what one naturalized American finds to seein the United States..." was instrumental in terms of his memorialization of the everyday: "I speak of the things that are there, anywhere and everywhere - easily found, but not easily selected and interpreted."
The same level of engagement and intense powers of observation are revealed in Salzman's own ouevre. South African contemporary art commentator Ashraf Jamal describes Salzman's The Other Side of Christmas as "a sobering reminder that there is no indifferent place" (using the description by poet Rainer Maria Rilke).
"No matter how dispassionate or detached our everyday encounters might appear," Jamal writes in his thoughtful essay on Salzman's project, "it is within these fleeting moments that our existence assumes its deepest traction. We know ourselves best not through special or extraordinary circumstances, but in-and-through the indifferent bilge and bric-a-brac whichis the binding sump of life."
Jamal's essay goes on to note the depiction of fleeting moments - everyday objects, the forgotten the discarded, the abstract. This includes the presence of the exhibition's central theme, Christmas, which is captured most directly in three photographs, where aless-than-festive season is commemorated by randomly placed, dejected-looking Xmas garden decor and an unlit star on a lone lamppost.
Apparent too is the lack of physical human presence: "It is the mise-en-scene of everyday life, the structures both man-made and natural which are uppermost in the photographer's sight-line," comments Jamal.
In Salzman's collection of photographs we see too the fingerprints of other artists who havebeen informed by Frank. These include some of the genre's luminaries - Garry Winogrand, William Eggleston, Lee Friedlander, Joel Meyerowitz, Stephen Shore, Alec Soth, Todd Hido and South Africa's David Goldblatt - all of whom Salzman credits with influencing, either directly or indirectly, his own work.
The Other Side of Christmas will be showing at Deepest Darkest gallery in Cape Town from 7 November to 28 December 2019.The opening evening on Thursday 7 November 2019 begins at 18h00 and forms part of First Thursdays.
More information: At Deepest Darkest Gallery
Discover the work of Barry Salzman
More news and events on All About Photo
Barry Salzman is an award-winning contemporary artist who currently works in photography, video and mixed media and whose projects have been shown widely around the world. His photographic work in particular, began with a fascination for the practice as a teenager, during a time when it served as a way for him to grapple with the racial segregation in Apartheid South Africa.
Today, his work continues to explore challenging themes around social, political and economic narratives, often coming down to the core concept of identity. Acutely relevantand brave in its willingness to confront, Salzman's photography garnered the 2018 International Photographer of the Year Award in the Deeper Perspective category at the International Photography Awards (IPA).
Born in Zimbabwe, Salzman's family relocated to South Africa, but he elected to leave the country in the mid 1980s, and has been based in New York City, USA for the last 30 years. That being so, his experience of the USA has largely been limited to Manhattan, with the artist identifying more as a New Yorker than an American, and a naturalized citizen at that. He struggled to assimilate into American culture, often identifying as "foreign" to his fellow Americans - a tension which bleeds into his work and forms the basis for his exhibition, The Other Side of Christmas. He currently lives between Cape Town and New York.
In his artist statement for the show, Salzman writes: "When the time came for me to consider the next phase of my life as an artist, I first set out to understand what other parts of America really looked like. I wanted to see beyond the flimsy veil of its official image of equality and opportunity, comfort and confidence - 'the land of the free and the home of the brave'."
To do so, he set out across the Southern USA, documenting his observations through the lensand building a substantial body of work exploring and responding to this stimulus. In The Other Side of Christmas, Salzman mines numerous themes - identity, place, belonging - andin large part examines what it means to be an 'American'.
He began working on the resulting documentary series around the time of the 2014 American midterm elections, the precursor to the divisive 2016 Presidential elections and continued through Christmas of that year. Now, in 2019, the series has become even more pointed, not just in the America of the Trump administration, where issues of identity, naturalization, citizenship and belonging are so heightened; but across the socio-political globe, in a world irrevocably affected by mass movements of refugees and asylum seekers. The Other Side of Christmas's penetrating gaze can indeed be extrapolated outwards.
In its stylistic execution, the photographic series draws on the rich tradition of the road trip -that journey of discovery that the open road presents and its capacity to facilitate understanding. Salzman states: "As I traversed the country, it was blatantly apparent that for many Americans, perhaps even the majority, the lives they live have little bearing on the promise of that often romanticised dream held by so many who seek to be 'American'.
"An historic and defining example of the road trip across America as the subject and vehicle of the documentarian is provided by Swiss photographer Robert Frank - specifically, his workin 1955 to 1956. Indeed, Frank inspired subsequent explorations by many other photographers, including Salzman, who duly credits Frank as an influence.
Frank's ambition for "observation and record of what one naturalized American finds to seein the United States..." was instrumental in terms of his memorialization of the everyday: "I speak of the things that are there, anywhere and everywhere - easily found, but not easily selected and interpreted."
The same level of engagement and intense powers of observation are revealed in Salzman's own ouevre. South African contemporary art commentator Ashraf Jamal describes Salzman's The Other Side of Christmas as "a sobering reminder that there is no indifferent place" (using the description by poet Rainer Maria Rilke).
"No matter how dispassionate or detached our everyday encounters might appear," Jamal writes in his thoughtful essay on Salzman's project, "it is within these fleeting moments that our existence assumes its deepest traction. We know ourselves best not through special or extraordinary circumstances, but in-and-through the indifferent bilge and bric-a-brac whichis the binding sump of life."
Jamal's essay goes on to note the depiction of fleeting moments - everyday objects, the forgotten the discarded, the abstract. This includes the presence of the exhibition's central theme, Christmas, which is captured most directly in three photographs, where aless-than-festive season is commemorated by randomly placed, dejected-looking Xmas garden decor and an unlit star on a lone lamppost.
Apparent too is the lack of physical human presence: "It is the mise-en-scene of everyday life, the structures both man-made and natural which are uppermost in the photographer's sight-line," comments Jamal.
In Salzman's collection of photographs we see too the fingerprints of other artists who havebeen informed by Frank. These include some of the genre's luminaries - Garry Winogrand, William Eggleston, Lee Friedlander, Joel Meyerowitz, Stephen Shore, Alec Soth, Todd Hido and South Africa's David Goldblatt - all of whom Salzman credits with influencing, either directly or indirectly, his own work.
The Other Side of Christmas will be showing at Deepest Darkest gallery in Cape Town from 7 November to 28 December 2019.The opening evening on Thursday 7 November 2019 begins at 18h00 and forms part of First Thursdays.
More information: At Deepest Darkest Gallery
Discover the work of Barry Salzman
More news and events on All About Photo
London: Inspiring Photographs Collecting for the Future
The Photographs Department is one of the most active areas of collecting within the National Portrait Gallery. Within a remit that covers both contemporary and historic periods, an important area of new acquisitions aims to respond to recent political, social and cultural events. Such photographs not only celebrate the achievement of individuals who are making contributions to Britain and the world, but also are part of considerations about ideas of British identity that are increasingly relevant, such as ‘Who are we?’ or, ‘How does portraiture represent us and our stories?’ In working towards our major transformation project, Inspiring People, the Gallery’s biggest ever development, these questions have taken on particular significance. They have challenged our thinking about the strengths and the limits of the Collection; of who is seen and who is not represented.
Alongside contemporary musicians and politicians, the display includes women photographers, BAME artists and sitters, and members of the LGTBQ community, highlighting the Gallery’s ongoing commitment to represent diversity. The photographs in this room bring to light achievement in a wide range of fields and public life, reflecting the multiplicity of ideas and backgrounds shaping debate and marking the present, but also inspiring us towards the future.
Find out more at The National Portrait Gallery
Discover more exhibitions: on All About Photo
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| Maisie Williams by Miles Aldridge 2017 |
Alongside contemporary musicians and politicians, the display includes women photographers, BAME artists and sitters, and members of the LGTBQ community, highlighting the Gallery’s ongoing commitment to represent diversity. The photographs in this room bring to light achievement in a wide range of fields and public life, reflecting the multiplicity of ideas and backgrounds shaping debate and marking the present, but also inspiring us towards the future.
Find out more at The National Portrait Gallery
Discover more exhibitions: on All About Photo
Sunday, October 6, 2019
France: 26th Bayeux Calvados-Normandy award for war correspondents
From 7 to 13 October Bayeux will be hosting the 26th Bayeux Calvados-Normandy award for war correspondents. The town, the Department of Calvados, the Normandy Region and their partners are organising a unique event devoted to a singular profession - that of the war correspondent. Through this profession, the event will be seeking to decipher past, current and alas future conflicts via three debate evenings, an evening award ceremony, eight original exhibitions, screenings of films and documentaries, activities for school children, a book fair and the unveiling of a commemorative stone at the Reporters' Memorial.
Witnesses to both major and little known conflicts, men and women ranging from the most eminent senior correspondents to reporters beginning their careers will all be pressing the pause button in the capital of the Bessin region. They will be there to shed light and provide insight into the darkest regions of the planet and award prizes to the best photographic, television, radio and print reports; to raise questions about and explain what their work is for, and to pay tribute to colleagues who have been imprisoned, killed or have disappeared.
Last year's anniversary edition will be remembered by 40,000 people and provided a clear demonstration of the need to create a resource centre. The content of this years event, whose president is the British photojournalist Gary Knight, will be further strengthened with a virtual reality experience provided by the BBC and an additional exhibition. The programme includes: 40 years of war in Afghanistan, an exhibition of testimonies from Aleppo, the 30th anniversary of Tiananmen Square, a focus on Venezuela, a country which is also the subject of a debate evening, and a tribute to the work of Alfred Yaghobzadeh on walls around the town, designed to make passers-by stop and think.
In the face of news and information being disseminated more and more rapidly, we believe more than ever that young people are a crucial audience. We are organising residencies, the "15-Year Olds' Perspective", HCR-Ouest-France encounters, an AFP day, the Normandy Region Prize awarded by students and apprentices, Prix Bayeux classes, and encounters with the Dysturb collective, all of which are opportunities to provide education about news and information, raise awareness and awaken curiosity in young people who are discovering the world and, like ourselves, trying to gain a better understanding of it.
Check out the program HERE
Read more articles: HERE
Find out more events: HERE
Witnesses to both major and little known conflicts, men and women ranging from the most eminent senior correspondents to reporters beginning their careers will all be pressing the pause button in the capital of the Bessin region. They will be there to shed light and provide insight into the darkest regions of the planet and award prizes to the best photographic, television, radio and print reports; to raise questions about and explain what their work is for, and to pay tribute to colleagues who have been imprisoned, killed or have disappeared.
Last year's anniversary edition will be remembered by 40,000 people and provided a clear demonstration of the need to create a resource centre. The content of this years event, whose president is the British photojournalist Gary Knight, will be further strengthened with a virtual reality experience provided by the BBC and an additional exhibition. The programme includes: 40 years of war in Afghanistan, an exhibition of testimonies from Aleppo, the 30th anniversary of Tiananmen Square, a focus on Venezuela, a country which is also the subject of a debate evening, and a tribute to the work of Alfred Yaghobzadeh on walls around the town, designed to make passers-by stop and think.
In the face of news and information being disseminated more and more rapidly, we believe more than ever that young people are a crucial audience. We are organising residencies, the "15-Year Olds' Perspective", HCR-Ouest-France encounters, an AFP day, the Normandy Region Prize awarded by students and apprentices, Prix Bayeux classes, and encounters with the Dysturb collective, all of which are opportunities to provide education about news and information, raise awareness and awaken curiosity in young people who are discovering the world and, like ourselves, trying to gain a better understanding of it.
Check out the program HERE
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| © Yannis Behrakis / Reuters |
Read more articles: HERE
Find out more events: HERE
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