Cathy's Art Diary

Innovative exhibition/installation at the Centre for British Photography based around a recreated Chinese photographic studio. The blurb explained how these studios were set up in China by travellers to record exotic people. The artists Grace Lau has turned this around to record people in Britain and create an archive of 21st century types. Around the walls were photographs taken at sessions in Hastings and Southampton and in the centre was a recreation of a studio with a back drop and accessories which you could be photographed in. I loved the way people were put in static Victorian poses but with modern clothes and belongings. They all looked just as proud as Victorians. When I was there it was one of the days it was operating. I wasn’t brave enough to join in but watched a group of diverse, older friends enjoying the experience. Closed 17 December 2023    

Nostalgic exhibition at the Centre for British Photography of photographs of London markets by Dorothy Bohm. Bohm died aged 98, earlier this year, and the gallery chose to mark this with these street photographs from the 60s and 70s. They covered all the old famous markets, usually bustling with action, but my favourite was this paired down picture of St Paul’s Covent Garden. It was fun listening to a group of people in the show who remembered the markets. One lady’s family had had a stall on one of them. I do like a bit of, what I call, loppy lugging. Closed 17 December 2023

Interesting exhibition at the Centre for British Photography of portraits of South Asian Women. The works by Arpita Shah, draw on Mughal and Indian miniatures which I love, placing the women in an oval composition but looking out directly at us not away as was traditional for women in those paintings. Each of the women, who were artists, creatives or educators, had written their own label to tell their story. This was a lovely group of women to stand among and learn about. Closed 17 December 2023

Charming exhibition at the Centre for British Photography of works by Daniel Meadows. In 1973, aged 21, Meadows repurposed a double-decker bus as a home, gallery and darkroom and, with the help of various grants, drove round the country, stopping in 22 towns and cities and offering to photograph local people. The exhibition showed these pictures alongside some documentary pieces he took for the councils which had sponsored him. It also told the afterlife of the work through publication and the tracing of some of the sitters via local papers in 2001. I loved the directness of these works. People showed themselves as they wanted to be seen in the moment with little fuss or pretense. I always forget what we looked like in the 70s and found these very nostalgic. Closed 17 December 2017  

Moving exhibition at the Centre for British Photography of photographs by Charlie Phillips recording 50 years of African Caribbean funerals in London. These photographs built a lovely picture of a community. There were good labels telling you who people were, the living and the dead, and cross-referencing people who appeared in more than one photograph. They also highlighted the social and emotional traditions of this group including the filling in off the grave by mourners. Personally I’m now putting the idea of pouring a libation of rum in the grave on my wish list! Closed 17 December 2023 and sadly the gallery has now closed while they look for a new venue. 

Five interesting exhibitions at the Centre for British Photography looking at how people impact the landscape. I am cheating a bit by combining these shows into one post but they all fit the theme of the main show and I must admit I’m quite behind with blogging so this seems quite convenient! The main show featured work by a selection of photographers looking at how the past is visible in nature and recent inclusions into the landscape. Highlights included John Davies pictures of aeroplanes vapour trails, Paul Seawright’s photographs of the sites of sectarian murders in Northern Ireland and Mitra Tabrizian’s strange upside down work, or is it? Downstairs there was work by Mandy Barker reacting to plastic pollution in the ocean. She brought together similar artefacts found on beaches into montages often looking like kaleidoscope images or in one case a Dutch floral still-life. She aims to raise awareness of the issue via her art. Upstairs was three small displays Helen Seats la...

Intriguing exhibition at the Centre for British Photography of a series of photographs by Heather Agyepong. This was a commission by the Hyman Collection from 2019 to respond to early twentieth century postcard imagery reflecting the Cake-Walk dance craze in Europe. It focuses on Aida Overton Walker, the celebrated African American vaudeville performer who was known as the Queen of the Cake-Walk a dance craze that was originally performed by enslaved people who mocked and mimicked the slaveholders and high society. Agyepong uses herself as the model for Overton and these pictures were shown in a large format in the exhibition but were also available to view in the shop in the size of the postcards they mimic. I   loved   the way they told a serious story and the issues it raised with beauty and humour. As you might have realised, I like a show that leaves me more to find out so I'm off to Google Aida and I want to see more work by Agyepong. I'm a sucker for someone who ...

Fascinating installation at the Centre for British Photography by Natasha Caruana. This work explores wedding customs in the UK by taking online adverts of brides wearing redundant wedding dresses with their faces blocked out or cut out of the shot to maintain anonymity. I liked the show just as an interesting visual with these strangely doctored images shown without explanation against a cliched bright pink background but have since realised from looking at the website that Caruana posed as someone on the quest for the perfect dress to approach the brides for higher resolution images than those used in the adverts an to find out why the dresses as now being discarded. I now want to know more and read the stories. I wish I'd paid more attention while I was there! Closes 23 April 2023

Interesting exhibition at the Centre for British Photography of work by Jo Spence. Curated by Patrizia Di Bello from the Jo Spence Memorial Library Archive at Birkbeck, University of London and James Hyman, Centre for British Photography the show takes as its starting point Jo Spence's thesis "Fairytales and Photography. Or, Another Look at Cinderella" (1982), which she wrote while a mature student on a photography course. My favourite pieces were from a series called "Only When I Got to Fifty Did I Realise I Was Cinderella" which explored facing middle age and health issues. These consisted of self-portrait mounted on card and surrounded by a handwritten thought or statement. Closes 23 April 2023

Lovely exhibition at the Centre for British Photography looking at the place of the home in British photography over the last century. The   show takes its title from Bill Brandt’s first book “The English at Home” in 1935 and traces a line from there to the present day. I was pleased to recognise a number of the photographers from previous exhibitions. i particularly love this sort of documentary photography. The show was both a history of photography but also of housing and interiors. I spent a lot of time looking at Karen Knorr’s pictures of people and interiors of Belgravia taken from 1979-80 with their ironic inscriptions. They made an interesting contrast to the earlier images mainly of working-class areas. My favourites were a series of pictures of all the living rooms in a street by Daniel Meadows and Martin Parr from 1973. I loved Martin Parr’s work but these were new to me. It was funny trying to explain 1970s décor to my younger, Swedish companion. Closes 23 Apri...

Interesting exhibition at the Centre for British Photography of self-portraits by contemporary female photographers. Curated by Fast Forward: Women in Photography the show presented a selection of series of pictures which look at how the photographs feel they are represented, what they are dealing with in their everyday lives and what it means to embrace diversities. The commentaries on the work were a bit long and worthy. I do like some explanation but at times I found the words stopped the images speaking for themselves. I liked a series by a group called Rainbow Sisters, a group of LGBTQ+ women, who had each taken three Polaroids labelled “What I was”, “What I am” and “What I will be”, a clever simple idea. I favoured works which had a dialogue with the past mainly the artists’ mothers. There was a lovely set by Maryam Wahid of her dressed in her mother’s saris in places that were important to her mother. They felt like recreating old snapshots. Closes 23 April 2023 Rev...

Fun display at the Centre for British Photography of photographs of Splitting Image puppets. These works were commissioned by the Hyman collection which includes a number of the original puppets by Fluk and Law of Margaret Thatcher and her Cabinet Ministers and they asked   photographers Andrew Bruce and Anna Fox to respond the figures. These were pictures of the puppets against bright backgrounds. In some cases they were taken almost like portraits yet they were missing legs and in some cases were only heads. In one image they were piled on top of each other. It made them look even more ominous than they originally did. I attended the show with a young Swedish friend so it was funny to try to describe to them what Splitting Image was. They were so iconic to me but alien to them, even most of the politicians being lampooned were now unknown to them. It just shows how people and things get forgotten and in the case of many of these politicians that’s just as well! All things ...

Exciting new gallery in Jermyn Street showcasing British photography. The gallery has been set up to host exhibitions as well as to provide access to the Hyman Collection, the private collection of Claire and James Hyman and one of the world's major collections of British photography. I was interested to see from the exhibits that they not only collect work but also commission new projects. It is a flexible space over three floors and had six small exhibitions and displays when I was there, so yes, you can guess what the next few blog posts are going to be! It also has a good shop selling photography books and high-quality prints of featured artists. Each of those was displayed like a small exhibition but I’m afraid I’ll be here forever if I try to blog those as well. Some of them however did mirror work in the exhibitions. I’ll definitely make a point of going to all the shows here. The space is seed funded by the Hyman’s for two years to develop relationships with other ...