Embracing the spirit of patriotism accompanying the upcoming Olympics and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, The Great British Public will present images from photographers working the length and breadth of the British Isles documenting the daily life, work and rituals of the British in their many incarnations. A focus on street photography will be complimented by intimate documentary studies and portraits from a range of established practitioners including John Angerson, Nick Cunard, Peter Dench, Liz Hingley, Zed Nelson, Martin Parr, Ben Roberts, Simon Roberts, Arnhel de Serra, Chris Steele-Perkins, Ewen Spencer, Homer Sykes and Giulietta Verdon-Roe. This multidisciplinary exhibition will celebrate the extremes and quirks of life on our islands; from military funeral parades to centenarians; from pomp and pageantry to cottage industries; from Hackney in London to the most northernmost island of Orkney in Scotland, via New Brighton, the Black Country and beyond—all explored through print and multimedia in a large-scale exhibition across two sites, Dog Eared Gallery and St Pancras International.
You can view a slideshow of photographs featured in the exhibition on Time Magazine website here.
In conjunction with the exhibition:
The Great British Public Talk
Central St Martins, 25 June, 7 to 9.30pm
Join Chris Steele-Perkins, Homer Sykes, Peter Dench and Liz Hingley for a fascinating and lively discussion about the work they have on show in The Great British Public exhibition, their creative influences and their experiences photographing the British. Each photographer will present his or her work and discuss it within the context of the show, followed by a Q&A session. More information on how to book can be found here.
Image: Kenneth Rowntree (1915-1997) Underbank Farm, Woodlands, Ashdale, Derbyshire. 1940
This symposium at the V&A is a fantastic opportunity to explore the complex presence of the past, national identity, taste and nostalgia in relation to the Recording Britain collection of water colours and drawings produced at the start of World War II with both art historians and practicing artists. Speakers include Patrick Wright, David Heathcote, and artists Ingrid Pollard, Abigail Reynolds, Simon Roberts and Paul Scott. At the outbreak of the Second World War an ambitious scheme was set up to employ artists on the home front. The result was a collection of more than 1500 watercolours and drawings that make up a fascinating record of British lives and landscapes at a time of imminent change. Recording Britain was the brainchild of Sir Kenneth Clark, who saw it as an extension of the Official War Artist scheme. By choosing watercolour painting as the medium of record, Clark hoped that the scheme would also help to preserve this characteristic English art form – you can find out more about the scheme here.
Installation shot of We English photograph in the Hijacked III exhibition at PICA, Australia.
Couple kissing while a
friend waits. Telford, England, 2008.
The Hijacked III exhibition and publication launch will take place at QUAD Gallery on Friday 3rd March.
This major survey features some of the best photographic talents from or within Australia and the United Kingdom. My series We English, has been included.
Here’s some of the press blurb: “Known for halting the status quo, arresting the scene and exploding a new perspective on the practices of contemporary photography, this third edition of the biennale Hijacked series explores the world through the eyes and works of 32 international photographers from or within the United Kingdom and Australia. Also featuring a series of specially commissioned films about participating photographers.”
The exhibition will show simultaneously in QUAD with a partner version at PICA in Perth Australia. It will also tour to a couple of other Australian cities. Details here:
Perth Institute of Contemporary Art (PICA) Feb 17 – April 8, 2012
Griffith University Art Gallery (GUAG) April 20 – June 16, 2012
Australian Centre for Photography (ACP) June 29 – August 19, 2012
Curated by:
Louise Clements QUAD & FORMAT International Photography Festival UK, Mark McPherson Big City Press Aus, Leigh Robb PICA Aus.
Featuring:
AUS – Tony Albert, Warwick Baker, Bindi Cole, Christopher Day, Tarryn Gill & Pilar Mata Dupont, Toni Greaves, Petrina Hicks, Alin Huma, Katrin Koenning, David Manley, Jesse Marlow, Tracey Moffatt, Justin Spiers, Michelle Tran, Christian Thompson, Michael Ziebarth.
UK – Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin, Natasha Caruana, Maciej Dakowicz, Melinda Gibson, Leonie Hampton, Rasha Kahil, Seba Kurtis, Trish Morrissey, Laura Pannack, Sarah Pickering, Zhao Renhui, Simon Roberts, Helen Sear, Luke Stephenson, Wassink & Lundgren, Tereza Zelenkova.
Here’s a short news clip on Brazilian TV about my We English exhibition at Centro Brasileiro Britânico, Sao Paulo.
The Observer’s photography critic, Sean O’Hagan, selects We English in his top 10 exhibitions of 2011. Read the full list here.
“Roberts’ manner is calm. He shows people small in the landscape, clustered into groups rather than isolated as individuals. He likes to shoot from relatively high, so we see patterns. It is partly a show about ritual in the landscape, the strange things we do to feel we belong. It is partly about how the very numbers of us who come to enjoy the land spoil the thing we admire. A strong theme is about movement, but Roberts shrewdly notices how much movement is local. Playing golf still has something pastoral about it, even in the shadow of the very power station which employed you.
These elegant pictures invite multiple readings, but they do it with confidence and zest. With flashes of wit, humanity, and abundant respect for his photographic predecessors, Simon Roberts has added a good one to the canon of surveys of the English.”
Francis Hodgson (art adviser, photography critic at the FT and former head of photographs at Sotheby’s) has just written a review of We English. You can read the full review here.
Couple of installation shots from the We English exhibition at Centro Brasileiro Britânico, Sao Paulo.
“The big art institutions here are finally catching up with their American counterparts, with a new photography gallery at the V&A, increased prominence at the Tate and exciting plans elsewhere. We asked four leading curators about the state of the art” writes Sean O’Hagan in today’s Observer. Read full article here.
He also selects my We English exhibition at Flowers East in his ‘Pick of London’s Current Photography Shows’ describing the photographs as “epic vistas captured from a distance that are both timeless and contemporary.”