Cathy's Art Diary

Moving exhibition at the Photographers’ Gallery combining the photographs of Donna Gottschalk and the words of Helene Giannecchini. From the age of 17 Gottschalk has photographed her lesbian friends. Finding her work and becoming friends in 2023, Giannecchini was given access to her archive and worked it into a moving narrative framed as a walk around areas of New York where Gottschalk had lived. A deeply personal collection was transformed into the story of a community with words and images having equal weight. Closed 7 June 2026 Review Guardian

One of the better iterations of this annual exhibition at the Photographers’’ Gallery for the Deutsche Borse Photography Prize. I have learnt that this is not a straight photography award but also included contemporary art works which have included extensive use of photography. I found all the four shortlisted entries very engaging this year. On the top floor I began with Weronika    Gęsicka constructed images based on "mountweazels" , fictitious encyclopaedia entries inserted as copyright traps as well as fabricated Wikipedia pages. She asks us to question what is real and what is fictitious in these believable images.   Next was Amek   Mahmoodian   “One Hundred and Twenty Minutes” based on the fact that on average we dream for 120 minutes a night. An exile herself, she has asked fellow exiles to share their dreams and work with her to construct images of them in drawings, photographs and words. Down a floor found Rene Matić’s installation of diaristic...

Interesting exhibition in the courtyard of Burlington House from the Royal Astronomical Society of photographs by Max Alexander reflecting changes to our perceptions of space since the launch of Sputnik. The blurb points out that with the launch in 1957, man started placing objects into orbit around the world. Alexander reflects on both the beneficial and harmful effects of this. He also looks at human's relationship with space before this date. Grouped in themes the photographs are arranged over six display stands with good commentaries about the images. My favourite had to be this one of Joanna Hart, from the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council, demonstrating a colour coded map of satellites images of a wildfire in Mexico. I partly picked it because it was taken at Harwell where I worked for a year. I also loved this one of Joanne Wheeler who advocates for standards for satellite operators. It is just so beautifully composed. Closed 10 May 2026

Varied exhibition at the Royal Geographical Society of work by members of the Royal Photographic Society showcasing international work. There was a real mix of subjects and techniques in this show many with intriguing stories. I loved this slightly surreal image by Kate Schultze which captures the moment the chimneys of Ferrybridge Power Station were demolished in 2021 as well as two images of young men one by Ryan O'Toole Collet and another by Peter Holliday. I think my favourite was this joyful image of a child with their eyes covered by hands with googly eyes by Hyunmin Ryu which made me smile. Closed 28 April 2026

Interesting exhibition at the Hayward Gallery of photographs by Samuel Laurence Cunnane. The works spanned his travels over the last decade but show little sign of place instead recording the mundane. They had a certain observational beauty and complimented the two main exhibitions which made use of everyday items. I think my favourite pieces were the kitchen still lives. Closed 3 May 2026

Charming outdoor exhibition in Soho Square of this year's images on a project to document New Year's day over 24 years. I have seen a few iterations of this project and have been fascinated by them. On the first day of the year 24 artists have each been recording an hour of the day. Each year then move on an hour. I've seen at how those 24 artists who studied together at Central St Martins have spread around the world and how the images have become more domestic. I sadly noted that next year will be the last year of the project. Please can someone put on a larger exhibition next year to sum it up. I'd love to know more about the artists and maybe either compare their work as they move through the day or to match an hour over all 24 years. This year's favourite has to be this dog with a dummy! Closed 16 March 2026

Neat display at the National Portrait Gallery looking at Victorian photographs of family. By picking this subject in a small space it looked at this history of photography at the time from its invention to its popularisation as well as looking at the types of family in the era. I thought it stretched the latter a bit, but it meant they included the Bloomsbury Group so of course I approved. I did find things to Google including Charles Haselwood Shannon and his partner Charles Ricketts shown here. No end date given but these sort of displays are usually temporar y.

Moving exhibition at the Photographers’ Gallery looking at the work of Polish photographer Zofia Rydet. Rydet was an established artist when at the age of 67 in 1978 she began her project “Sociological Record” in which she photographed people in their homes. As she did more and more work she developed subcategories such as looking at women on their doorsteps, the role of photographs in the home and still-lives in windows. The photos capture a moment in time and I found it moving to see what people had around them. I thought it was summed up by this quote from Rydet “Not only do people die, but with them their homes. Not only people vanish, but also everything that surrounded them. Only photography can stop time. Only photography has the power to overcome the spectre of death, and that is my unending struggle with death and transience." Closed 22 February 2026 Reviews Guardian Telegraph

Fun exhibition at the Photographers’ Gallery marking 100 years since the invention of the photobooth. The show looked at the history of the booths, how they work and the sociological impact. It explained how the booths provided a cheap way of getting photographs and a space for people who found it harder to access photography such as gay couples and black sitters. They also explained how governments realised the usefulness of adding easily available photographs to official documents. There was a lovely selection of examples of photographs, some in standard frames or presentation envelopes. Closed 22 February 2026 Review Times

Interesting exhibition at the Photographers’ Gallery looking at the life and work of the Ukrainian photographer Boris Mikhailov. The show was arranged over two floors with the first looking at the Soviet years and the other the years since. His work combines humour and tragedy via photographs, conceptual work and performance. The text explained how he was given a camera to record the work of the factory where he worked but instead used it to take nude pic tures of his wife and he was fired. This story sums up his anarchic approach to his photography. The show was displayed in series with good explanations of them and often including quotes from Mikhailov.I loved his series called “Red” with images featuring the colour often in a subversive way and a tender series of pictures of people dancing in the street. Closed 22 February 2026 Review Guardian

Fabulous exhibition at Tate Modern on the life and work of Lee Miller. I thought I’d done all there was to do on Miller having attending talks by her son, been to Farley Farm and gone to numerous exhibitions but this show led us though her modelling and photography so beautifully and included a lot of never seen before work. It was obvious that a lot of research had gone into the show. It managed to express the joy of her early life as a model and then with the Surrealists without the shadow of the war work that was to come. I got a real sense of friendship, and although a later work, her portrait of Dorothea Tanning made me laugh out loud it was so joyous. Miller had a real eye for the strange in her images which began with the work with Man Ray but continued into the war. I think my favourite work in the show was this one of a boot and bullets. I liked the fact the concentration camp pictures were in a side room and I noticed a number of people couldn’t face them. Given Mill...

Disappointing exhibition at the Barbican Music Library of photographs of the group Blondie from 1978. Blondie was a big part of my youth, so I was pleased that this show was still on when I went to the Barbican however it was shown in a cramped space and was badly lit with reflective glass on the exhibits. The narrative was poorly explained. It was billed as the photographs taken by Martyn Goddard but seemed to include work by other people and archive material. The images were fascinating and deserved a better presentation. I found it hard to engage with what they were and how they fitted together. Closed 21 February 2026

A striking iteration of this annual exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery featuring the shortlisted works in this year’s photo portrait prize. As ever there were some stunning images and themes of old age and disability seemed to emerge such as Donato Telesca's stunning photograph from above of a Parolympian weightlifter. Can I have my usual moan about reflective glass on photographs? I would have loved to show you an image of Luan Davide Gray's "We Dare to Hug" showing a tender older gay couple but the reflection means you see more of me and the other people and works in the show than the picture itself. My favourite this year was Timon Benson's "About to Leave" of his father shown here just before he moved back to Kenya, pictured through his living room window. Other shout outs to Tom Parker's picture of three Mongolian contortionist girls creating great shapes, Tamsyn Warde's picture of a small child, Benji, in a pub with his favour...

Moving exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery from Vogue Ukraine and PhotoVogue to support and promote Ukrainian photographers. These were poignant images, some showing the effects of war, but others showing life going on despite the conflict. My favourite was this photo by Julie Poly called "Scrolling Through Violence" of a young person looking at scenes of war on their phone which reflects on their face. It says so much about the effects of war   I also liked Tania Shcheglova\Synchrodogs photograph of chairs on a beach which strangely looked like a 1950s textile design and Daniil Kotlair's "Mother of Georgia" looking up at the back of a monumental statue. Closed 16 November 2025

Annoying exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery looking at the life and photography of Cecil Beaton. There were some beautiful images and the show told the story of his life well, but I thought it tried to cover too much ground. The introduction said it was going to look at his portraits and fashion work but it included quite a number of photographs and drawings of him by other people and did venture into his war work although the images they used did all include people. The show felt quite cramped in the space particularly in the usually large room at the end which had been divided into about 6 or 7 separate spaces. In a number of cases the room introduction panel had been placed in the entrance space causing bad bottle necks. A lot of the labels were quite long too with good but complex biographies of the sitters. You did get an ideal of a strata of society in the early 20th century but, despite his being a period I love, I quite quickly didn't care. I kept remember...

Interesting small exhibition at St Martin in the Fields celebrating 150 years of the Pearly Kings and Queens. The show featured photographs of the current pearly kings and queens by Alex Kurunis displayed around the crypt of the church alongside some archive materials. I hadn't realised that the Original Pearly Kings and Queens Association has a close association with this church and it has been holding its famed Harvest Festival service there since 1940 and the statue of the Associations founder, Henry Croft is displayed in the Crypt. Closed 4 October 2025

Striking display at London Bridge Station, as part of the Totally Thames Festival, of large, collaged photographs of river scenes by Henry Reichhold. The views were of Henley Regatta and the Great River Race and were compiled of a montage of images capturing the complex event into one image. The large, freestanding display, had two large and two smaller images of Henley on one side which were full of people and action. On the other side, the river race is shown as an aerial view of lots of boats going in different directions against an oddly blue river. The display might have had more impact if a charity stall hadn't set itself up at one end making it a bit off putting to stop to admire and engage with the work. Closes 30 September 2025

Interesting exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery as a result of their annual partnership project with six universities exploring contemporary portrait photography. For this partnership the gallery brings together curators and photographers with students via talks, workshops and tours and invites them to make their own work based on themes from the previous year's Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize but these weren’t outlined. The show was in a small gallery so there was a disappointing number of works on show which they compensated with by three audiovisual displays, which was a bit much for the space. I would also have liked to know a bit more about the works in the av show as it was they were just interesting images. Closed 28 September 2025  

Small exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery showcasing new photographic portraits created by secondary school students as part of the gallery's Law Photography Programme for Schools.   I hadn’t realised the gallery has a photography studio and the first selection you saw were taken in the studio by students of their friends. In this and the other sections, the photos were accompanied by a small piece written by the photographer explaining what the sitter meant to them. Other sections on teachers and family were photographed in the schools and at the students homes. The works were of a high quality, and the descriptions were moving. Closed 28 September 2025

Interesting exhibition at the Photographers' Gallery looking at the career of Dennis Morris. Morris came to the UK from Jamaica with his mother in the 1960s and from an early age began taking photographs of the people around him in Haringey both on the streets and in a makeshift studio in their home. I loved these early insightful works. In 1973 he went to see Bob Marley at the Speakeasy club and they struck up a friendship which led to Morris leaving home and school to tour with Marley and take iconic photographs. These ranged from iconic images for album covers to impromptu pictures of Marley relaxing. I liked this one of him smiling. Later in the 70s he was invited by John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten) of the Sex Pistols to document the bands rise to fame and half a floor of the show was devoted to this period. On the 3rd floor of the gallery, in the media gallery, there was a display of album covers and mechanise which features images taken by Morris. Closed 28 September...