The Business of War Photography conference, linked to The Home Front forthcoming show at DLI Museum and Art Gallery, should be intriguing. 31 July to 1 August 2014 organised by Durham University, DLI Museum and Durham Art Gallery in partnership with Impressions. Call for papers is out now, deadline 1 March, for details see http://www.impressions-gallery.com/events/event.php?id=261
January 2014 (archived post)
Very happy that The Home Front (an Impressions Gallery touring show) will be travelling to DLI Museum and Art Gallery in Durham 28 June to 21 September this year… opening night 27 June.
November 2013 (archived post)
Last week I went to Newport – or to be more accurate The University of South Wales, as it is now – to give a guest lecture. Smart questions from the photography students there. It was great to see Paul Reas again and a lovely surprise to see Susan Butler. Amazed that Newport now has 500 photo students, 150 of whom are documentary!
November 2013 (archived post)
It’s been a really busy time and I’ve got behind with updating… The Impressions exhibition reception on 12th October felt great. Despite the English Defence League being in town that day, and chaos on the trains from London owing to signal failures, almost all my friends made it up to Bradford in time to see the show and have an afternoon curry at Omar Khan’s. Anti-fascist protestors were out in force, and Bradford stayed cool. Several friends had to stand on the train for 2 hours before they got seats, and spent 10 hours in one day travelling on trains and buses. Heroic stuff, and it felt amazing to have so many friends there and the support of other visitors, Pippa Oldfield, Anne McNeill and all the Impressions team. The show ends on Friday 23rd November, but it will be touring…
with (most of…) the Impressions team after the opening reception on 12 October, left to right: Sophie Powell, Sarah Read, Melanie Friend, Shaila Hamid, Angela Sheard, curator Pippa Oldfield and director Anne McNeill. Photograph by Louise Harman.
The following weekend, the Loughborough seminar (European Borderscapes) where I presented Border Country, was excellent. Afterwards there was a dearth of buses and taxis from the campus and I had to hitchhike to get from the university to Loughborough station to catch my train up to Newcastle/Sunderland in time for the opening reception of The Social. I would have missed the whole evening if it hadn’t been for Peter, an environmental health officer, and his wife, who responded to my flagging down of their car and drove me 15 minutes out of their way to Loughborough station. Amazing. Six of my beach images from The Home Front are in You are The Company in Which You Keep at Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art. It’s good to be in such an excellent group show.
October 2013 (archived post)
Looking forward to the Sunderland exhibition previews including the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art (see September news) and The Social opening on Friday 18 October http://www.thesocialnepn.co.uk/about/
Heading up to Loughborough University on 18 October (and from there to Sunderland for NGCA launch) for the European Borderscapes Symposium, to present my 2007 project Border Country. Should be really interesting, with speakers presenting new art projects and research on Europe’s changing borders, mobility and migration. http://www.lboro.ac.uk/services/graduateschool/events/name-75614-en.html
The opening reception and book launch for The Home Front solo exhibition is (finally…!) happening at Impressions Gallery in Bradford on Saturday 12 October, at 3pm. I started the research for this project in 2008 (the images in 2009) so it’s been quite a journey and it’ll be good to see the work out. All welcome! Details here:
September 2013 (archived post)
28 September
Six of my beach images from The Home Front series have been included in a group show at Sunderland’s Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art which runs till 23 November http://www.ngca.co.uk/exhibs/default.asp?id=191&prnt=18
4 September
The Home Front installation day. A bit knackered as had only had five hours gap since arriving back in London the night before from being on press in Italy, and then hopping on an early train to Bradford. Such an exciting time though, the adrenaline kicks in. Luckily the Impressions team led by Dominic Hopkinson and curator Pippa Oldfield were there in force, and as ever, the hang was a compelling process. I was interviewed by Ryan Baxter of the Impressions New Focus youth project and asked to think about encouraging more young people into photography. Ryan and his colleague William Sellars did a very good job editing the interview.
2/3 September
EBS printers, near Verona, Italy
Had a fantastic time in San Giovanni Lupatoto, the small town outside Verona where EBS printers are based, seeing The Home Front on press. Whirring, clacking sounds of the printing presses, the smell of the ink, and the restaurants nearby all unforgettable… Only too happy to take a break from doing emails upstairs, and every hour rush down to look at the pages come off the press. Great to get away from computer screens and to see such skilled work by the printers. The top image shows publisher Dewi Lewis in discussion with printer Marco Motti, and the bottom image shows Paulo Marchiori adjusting colour balances.
August 2013 (archived post)
I’m preparing for my new (solo) exhibition The Home Front at Impressions, which opens 14 September and runs to 23 November. It’s
been brilliant working with curator Pippa Oldfield these past few months. Numerous trips down to Spectrum in Hove, working mostly with Paul Lowe, which has been great. At the end of August I’m heading to Verona to see The Home Front book ‘on press’ with Dewi Lewis at EBS printers.
July 2013 (archived post)
On 1 July I was at York University, talking about Border Country at a seminar called The Politics of Detention superbly organised by Alex Hall, lecturer in the Politics Department. When I started Border Country in 2003 I never imagined that the injustice of immigration detention would still be quite such a pressing issue ten years on. http://www.york.ac.uk/politics/news-events/events/2013/politics-detention/ The papers were really excellent, although the day was sobering.
June 2013 (archived post)
On 12 June I was at Belfast Exposed for Photography and Social Justice a roundtable discussion on the relationship between photography and political activism, focusing on the rights of detainees, especially those caught up in the immigration system. It was fantastic to be back in Belfast and to see the shows at BX and the MAC Northern Ireland: 30 Years of Photography, and to spend time with Pauline Hadaway, Anthony Haughey and Chris Gilligan again and to meet Laurence McKeown. http://www.belfastexposed.org/eventdetails/Photography_and_Social_Justice_Panel_Discussion
January 2013 (archived post)
Went up to Newcastle on 16 January to give a talk at the Mining Institute, part of the North East Photography Network (NEPN) series of Photographer Talks. See http://www.northeastphoto.net/. I had a fantastic time, and the audience’s responses were insightful and thoughtful. Also had an attack of darkroom nostalgia during my tour of the new darkrooms and print spaces at University of Sunderland, amazing to see so many enlargers…
November 2012 (archived post)
I was invited to participate in Bridging Sound, co-organised by Profs Sally-Jane Norman and Michael Bull at University of Sussex. I talked about the use of sound in my earlier projects (Border Country, Homes and Gardens) and also my new work The Home Front (no literal sound; but there is sound within the images). There were some great papers. I could relate particularly to the presentation given by Angus Carlyle and Rupert Cox about their project Air Pressure, which focuses on noise pollution by aircraft in Japan, and its effect on a farming community living right next a runway.
October 2012 (archived post)
Saturday 13 October.
Speaker at seminar focusing on the Current Conflicts exhibition at University College Suffolk’s Waterfront Gallery, Ipswich.
Registration : from 9.30am, Seminar starts at 10.00am.
More information:www.ucs.ac.uk/waterfrontgallery.
To register: contact c.gant2@ucs.ac.uk or call on 01473 338654.
Saturday 20 October.
Speaker at Brighton Photo Biennial Symposium Photography’s Contested Spaces featuring Charlotte Cotton, Jorge Ribalta, Broomberg & Chanarin & more. At: The Attenborough Centre Creativity Zone, Pevensey III, University of Sussex, Falmer Brighton, BN1 9RH. 10am – 5.30pm. Cost: £10.
July 2012 (archived post)
New work The Home Front has been scheduled for solo exhibition in early 2014 at Impressions Gallery, Bradford, UK. An accompanying publication is being planned with Dewi Lewis and Impressions Gallery.
March 2012 (archived post)
The Home Front has received two nominations for the Prix Pictet.
February 2012 (archived post)
Three photographs from The Home Front series have been published in the Danish photography/video journal KATALOG 24.1 (Spring 2012).
May 2011 (archived post)
London Poll Tax Riot photograph (1990) was exhibited in Street Fighting Man exhibition at James Hyman Photography, Savile Row, London, W1.
‘My Best Shot’ slot in The Guardian, with interview by Sarah Phillips.
One of six photographers interviewed for a film made by Panos Pictures celebrating their 25th anniversary, Conversations in Photography: 25 Years of Panos Pictures.
May 2011 (archived post)
One of six photographers interviewed for a film made by Panos Pictures celebrating their 25th anniversary, Conversations in Photography: 25 Years of Panos Pictures.
April 2011 (archived post)
Interviewed by journalist William Oliver for Dazed and Confused.
March 2011 (archived post)
Matt Hart, Professor of English and Comparative Literature at University of Columbia, New York, wrote extensively about Border Country in the Spring/Summer 2011 issue of English Language Notes (University of Colorado, USA).
February 2011 (archived post)
David Farrier, Lecturer, Department of English Literature, The University of Edinburgh has written about Border Country in his book Postcolonial Asylum: Seeking sanctuary before the law (Liverpool University Press).