The New Black Vanguard: Photography Between Art and Fashion

Vibrant exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery which looks at the new movement for black photographic portraiture.

There were some fabulous images in this show shown against brightly painted walls. The ones which stood out for me included Daniel Obast’s wonderful, almost Renaissance like, head studies and Stephen Tay’s work capturing the life around him. My favourite picture was this one of a face on a mirror by Adrienne Raquel.

The show finished with a room showing a reel of films by some of the artists and one backed by Burberry with a powerful wall sized picture of a group which I loved but forgot to write down the photographer.

Once criticism would be the use of reflective glass on a lot of the work. It made it hard to decipher at times as you couldn’t see the image for rejections of lights, windows and yourself. A wall of assorted work was shown without glass and was a much more effective display.

Closed 22 January 2022


 

 

 

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