North: Fashioning Identity

Odd exhibition at Somerset House looking at how the North of England is depicted in photography, art and fashion.

I’m afraid the first question that came to mind in this show was, why? I might have been born in Oxfordshire, but I like to think I am a Northerner in all but birth place, so I found it quite strange to single out the area in this way. I also found that it rather humourless in style which made it feel patronising in places. It was just two minutes into the show before the first flat cap appeared!

The show followed various themes such as family, women, sport and subculture and rural and industrial landscapes but I didn’t always find these that obvious. The photographers came out of the show best and I liked Paul O’Donnell’s picture of Liverpool and Alice Hawkin’s of the Leyton Institute in Blackpool. My favourite picture was of a glamorous elderly lady in a fancy purple hat, smoking a cigarette by Shirley Baker. She has a wonderful sense of style with a wrinkled, lived in face.

Closed on 4 February 2018

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11 February, 2018
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