I’m currently working on a long-term project with Oxfam looking at the post-Typhoon Haiyan relief effort. The first part of the series was published in the Sunday Times Magazine today; a study of the temporary shelters that have been built since the typhoon struck on 8 November 2013.
November’s Typhoon Haiyan left more than 4 million people homeless and in need of shelter. Families have tried to repair their homes with scraps of destroyed buildings and emergency plastic sheets and now live in flimsy structures extremely vulnerable to the elements and future disasters.
“People are struggling to find places that are warm and out of harm’s way,” said Oxfam’s Country Director in the Philippines Justin Morgan. “In one of the most disaster prone countries in the world, it’s critical we quickly provide safe homes and build quality evacuation centres for those continuing to live in dangerous and difficult locations. “
More were made homeless in the Philippines by Typhoon Haiyan than by the 2004 Asian Tsunami and now millions are living in dire conditions due to the lack of adequate temporary shelter.
Donors have generously committed $331 million to the response but the UN’s shelter budget is severely under-funded at 24%
and concrete foundation slabs.
At the same time the government, the United Nations and humanitarian agencies must work with people affected to quickly find and clear safe land for temporary and permanent housing.
Pierdom has been reviewed widely in the press since launching in September.
Here are links to a few:
PhotoEye, “Book Review: Pierdom,” 3 December 2013, Jenkins, Karen. (link)
Hotshoe, “Pierdom book review,” Issue 186 / Winter 2013.
Photography & Architecture, “Pierdom review,” 27 November 2013, Graham, Julie. (link)
Photomonitor, “Pierdom review,” November 2013, Atwell, Oliver. (link)
Slow Wear Journal, “Victorian Remains,” 18 November 2013. (link)
Klat Magazine, “Simon Roberts, Pierdom” 11 November 2013, Severo, Fabio. (link)
Gup Magazine, “Pierdom- Book Review,” 30 September 2013, Giostrelli, Sofia. (link)
Fad, “ART STUFF on a train #21: Pierdom,” 24 September 2013, Carey-Kent, Paul. (link)
One Stop Arts, “Simon Roberts: Pierdom at Flowers Gallery,” 23 September 2013, Harbour, Stacey. (link)
The Telegraph, “Review: Pierdom by Simon Roberts,” 29 October 2013, Newman, Cheryl. (link)
Wallpaper* Magazine, “Top shelf: 10 new books to flick through this autumn,” 28 October 2013, Bell, Jonathan. (link)
Morning Star, “Pier Pressures,” 14 September 2013, Hodgson, Francis.
Independent on Sunday, “Photography book review: Pierdom,” 15 September 2013. (link)
Architects’ Journal, “Welcome the onset of autumn with this seaside exhibition,” 9 September, 2013, Pallister, James. (link)
The Observer, “Pierdom: photography book of the month,” 1 September 2013, O’Hagan, Sean. (link)
Time Magazine Lightbox, “The Victorian Pleasure Piers of a British Summer,” 10 September 2013, Harris, Katie. (link)
BBC News Online, “Britain’s Piers in Focus,” 10 September 2013, Coomes, Phil. (link)
Camden Review, “Art Diary: Sea Here,” 29 August 2013, Smith, Amy. (link)
FT Weekend Magazine , “Piers of the Realm,” 24 August 2013, Hodgson, Francis. (link)
Aesthetica Magazine, “Iconic Britain- Pierdom at Flowers Gallery,” Issue 54 / August – September 2013. (link)
I’m included in the current issue of Professional Photographer magazine’s 100 Photography Heroes.
I have a series of photographs in the current issue of Outside Magazine taken in Sochi, Russia earlier this year. They accompany an article by McKenzie Funk examining the upcoming Winter Olympics.
“The Sochi Olympics Are a Five-Ring Mess- Determined that Russia will put on the most lavish Winter Games in history, Vladimir Putin has spent $51 billion, quashed environmental critics, and turned one of Europe’s most beautiful natural regions into a construction zone.”
Read the article and see more photographers here.
Some work I made in Tblisi, Georgia, is featured in this weekend’s The New York Times T Magazine.
View the slideshow here.
The accompanying story ‘In Tbilisi, Georgia, Bold New Buildings Rise From the Ruins of Dead Empires’ was written by Joshua Levine. Read the article here.
A photograph from my series This Land is Your Land, features on the cover of a new edition of Albert Camus’ book The Rebel.
It is one of several new editions of Camus’ books released by Penguin. You can see more here.
Following the publication of two Albert Camus essays in August, the author’s works are republished by Penguin this month with new covers by a range of photographers such as Rankin and Simon Roberts. Again, the design concept is concerned with changing the perception of Camus’ philosophical writing…
The Outsider features a cover photograph by Rankin, while Caligula and Other Plays uses an image taken by Joel Meyerowitz. Many of the photographs used on the new editions depict coastal locations bathed in sunshine, though some retain a sense of the foreboding, such as the cover of A Happy Death, for example – a close-cropped shot of a sunbather.
The new-look series was originally proposed by publisher Alexis Kirschbaum, while the images for the covers themselves were sourced by picture editor, Samantha Johnson. In August, the publication of The Sea Close By marked the beginning of the Camus relaunch (it is also the centenary year of the author) and introduced a discernably sunnier side to his novels, stories and plays.
“Image-wise we were keen to try something new and avoid the many visual clichés that are often associated with Camus,” says Penguin art director, Jim Stoddart. “These covers offer a new kind of iconography – we’re aiming to change the perception of Camus from a cold existentialist into an aesthetic sensualist.”
The new editions of Camus’ works are published on October 31 by Penguin Modern Classics.
At this year’s Royal Photographic Society Annual Awards held in London on 17th September I was made an Honorary Fellow of the Society, along with the photographers Giles Duley, Tim Flach, Peter Fraser and Jane Hilton.
You can find out more about the 2013 awards here.
About the RPS Awards-
The Society’s Annual Awards are offered to individuals who have made significant contributions to the art and science of photography. The Society has adopted a wide definition of photography which refers to the art and science of the recording of light or other radiation on any medium on which an image is produced or from which any image may by any means be produced. Award nominations are considered by a committee headed by the immediate Past President – for the 2013 Awards this will be Rosemary Wilman HonFRPS – and recommendations are put to The Society’s Council for confirmation.
The Society has made Awards to photographers and those in photography since 1878 when its Progress medal was first awarded. There are now fifteen categories (see list left each of which includes an historical record of winners). In addition The Society also awards Honorary Fellowships of The Society – an honour it first bestowed in 1895. Recent Award winners have included photographers Terry O’Neill, Albert Watson, Annie Leibovitz and Martin Parr, and individuals Philippe Garner, Sir David Attenborough and Tim Berners-Lee, alongside scientists and museum and gallery curators.
This month the RPS Journal features an interview about my practice, which you can read here.
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Phil Coomes, Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Britain”s obsession with the coast is an understandable one given its geography and naval history, yet the coast also played an important part in the country”s social history.
It was here that millions of workers first enjoyed time away from the tough working conditions of Victorian towns, and any self-respecting resort would require one key ingredient, a pier. Their popularity lasted well into the middle of the last century, but since then, many have struggled to survive the changing holiday habits of the nation, and in some cases natural disasters.
Yet in some way these structures jutting out into the ocean reflect the nation”s one-time desire to spread its influence, for good or ill, around the globe. Today those that still stand have mixed fortunes, with some like Ryde Pier reborn and others still seeking regeneration.
Photographer Simon Roberts has spent the past three years creating a comprehensive survey of Britain”s piers, depicting all 58 surviving pleasure piers along with a handful of those lost in photographs marking where a pier once stood.
Robert”s approach is in a similar vein to his previous work We English, The Election Project and of course XXX Olympiad, shooting on large format cameras to create a formal record. Within the collection are one or two that have a more journalistic feel, a link back to his previous life as a press photographer.
Roberts studied Human Geography at the University of Sheffield prior to taking the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) course in press photography, the two disciplines now seeming to mesh well and drive his work forward.
His projects come at an important time for the country and his long term immersion in the subject is to be admired.
Looking back at a piece we ran by Roberts in 2003 about a you realise how much of a journey he has been on. Not in terms of miles travelled, though his work has encompassed the Middle East, a year in Russia and of course the US amongst others, but in terms of developing his own voice through his images.
That”s not something you can do overnight. And though the beauty of these pictures can only really be experienced first hand as large prints on the wall, the smallish reproductions here do offer a glimpse of the eye and brain behind them.
You can see the full article here along with two video clips on location.
Pierdom is featured in this weekend’s FT Magazine prior to the book and exhibition launch at Flowers Gallery on 10 September.
You can see an online slideshow on the FT website and read an article by Francis Hodgson here.
The magazine spread can be download as a pdf here.
It comes as a new report has been released by Co-Operatives UK on the state of the British seaside pier which you can read here and download as a pdf here.
