Johny Pitts: Home is Not a Place

Confused exhibition at the Photographers’ Gallery of a project by Johny Pitts.

I must admit I got confused by the number of ideas which seemed to drive this show but I think in the end it boiled it down to a trip around the coast of Britain with poet Roger Robinson to address the question “What is Black Britain?” which then developed into him looking at what home means to him. Throw in Japanese ideas of a ‘personal utopia’ and you’ll see where I’m coming from.

I wanted the photos of people around the coast to tell me more about who they were and where they were taken but he did explain that there were no labels to remove hierarchy and that “people and places will be apparent to anyone from that location” but what about the rest of us.

I liked the nostalgic installation of a living room wall with shelves, tv, videos etc but wasn’t convinced this was recording a black experience as implied. My first student rooms looked remarkably similar.

Closed 24 September 2023

Review

Guardian


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