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PICTURES FROM THE REAL WORLD
DAVID MOORE WITH AN ESSAY BY DAVID CHANDLER David Moore’s Pictures from the Real World was the forerunner of much that followed in British photographic history, yet the first and only showing of the photographs was in 1988 when they were selected by Martin Parr for a special edition of the magazine, Creative Camera. The series is a powerful collection of colour documentary photographs of families on a council estate in Moore’s home city of Derby, UK, made between 1987 and 1988. At the time, few serious documentary photographers were working in colour and Moore’s choice was in many ways a rebellion against the prevalent aesthetic. It was also a crtical response to the new political and social realities imposed by Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government from 1979. As David Chandler comments in a new essay commissioned for the book; 'Pictures from the Real World’ presents working class life as a strange blend of physical mayhem and inertia, the abrasive square frames of Moore’s camera cut into bodies and objects, much as the rooms themselves seem to struggle to contain them’. Published as a limited edition of 500 copies the book is a unique collaboration between Dewi Lewis Publishing and London based, Here Press. The work retains a visceral energy 25 years after the event and documents a very particular time in British social and photographic history. One might also argue that the subsistence level living encountered connects the content of the work to current times. David Moore has published several books and exhibited widely. His first solo exhibition, The Velvet Arena, was at The Photographers’ Gallery, London in 1994 and was also published as a book. His most recent book The Last Things (Dewi Lewis Publishing, 2008) documented a never before photographed, government bunker in central London. David Moore lives in London and is currently Course Leader on MA Photography at Central Saint Martins, London. A major survey show of his work is planned for 2015. |
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THE BLACK KINGDOM
BRIAN GRIFFIN Recognised as one of the UK’s most important photographers of the last forty years, Brian Griffin grew up near Birmingham amongst the factories of the Black Country. His parents were factory workers and from birth Griffin seemed set to follow in their footsteps. And so, on leaving school at the age 16, he began working in a factory, just like everyone else around him. A year later he moved to British Steel working as a trainee pipework engineering estimator in a job that involved costing systems for the nuclear power stations that were then being built. He remained there four years before escaping the tedium of the office by enrolling to study photography at Manchester College of Art. The Black Kingdom is a visual autobiography of Brian Griffin’s life during the 1950s and 60s where everything surrounding him seemed to emanate from the factory. The book is a dissection of life in industrial England after the Second World War and shows the influences that would inspire the creative output of a highly successful photographer. For Griffin, those first 21 years living in a warren of terraced streets set amongst factories and continually polluted by their smells and noise, remain indelibly printed on him and have shaped the person he is. Griffin has exhibited and published widely. In 1989 he had a one-man show at the National Portrait Gallery, London. The same year The Guardian newspaper selected him as ‘The Photographer of the Decade’ and LIFE magazine used his photograph ‘A Broken Frame’ as the covershot for their feature ‘Greatest Photographs of the Eighties’. During the 1990s Brian Griffin retired from photography and focused on directing advertising, pop videos and short films. He returned to photography in 2001, reestablishing himself once again at the pinacle of British Photography. |
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THE GREY LINE
JO METSON SCOTT The Grey Line is a reflection on war told from the perspective of US and UK soldiers who have spoken out against the Iraq War. Publication marks 10 years since the invasion of Iraq. Photographer Jo Metson Scott began the project after meeting a young American soldier who had been denied Conscientious Objective status and had gone AWOL in order to avoid redeployment to Iraq. There began a journey that took Metson Scott across the US in search of other veterans who had also been morally opposed to the war, and who had spoken out against it, at varying costs to themselves. Metson Scott’s work looks at the growing number of young men and women who, having chosen to fight for their country, found themselves questioning what they were being ordered to do – at a time when the legality of the war itself was being disputed internationally. Through photographs and interviews, The Grey Line explores the lives of these soldiers to more fully understand what it was that changed their minds and drove them to take an anti-war position – no matter what consequence. Jo Metson Scott is a portrait and documentary photographer whose work highlights the relationship between people and their communities. She has been commissioned by organisations including The New York Times, The Telegraph and The Photographer’s Gallery and her work has been exhibited in both the UK and Europe, including Arles Photography Festival, Nottingham Castle Art Gallery, Hereford Photography Festival and the Venice Biennale Fringe. She lives and works in London. |
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HAVANA: INTIMATIONS OF DEPARTURE
JOHN COMINO-JAMES HAVANA: Intimations of Departure is John Comino-James’ third book of photographs relating to his experience of that city, first visited in 2002 and many times since. Yet the city still surprises; he writes: Just when I think I know parts of the city well, I catch myself walking in streets made unfamiliar by my photographs. Arranged in six sequences, the book contemplates the visual experiences and emotional connections the photographer might lose were he unable to walk through its streets again. We imagine moments in the history of buildings, find ourselves led towards and almost overwhelmed by the energy of the street, and observe moments of individual preoccupation and solitude. In the final section, through text and colour, he responds to the blandishments of a tourist industry which all too often proposes that ‘Cuba is on the verge of change… now is the perfect time to visit before its distinctive character is altered forever’, countering the proposition that the Havana landscape simply presents an opportunity ‘for great dramatic photos for competitions and portfolios’, pointing to a wider culture of art and politics beyond the Che Guevara T-shirts and other souvenirs. Born in Somerset, John Comino-James lives near Thame in Oxfordshire. He has published five previous photography books: Nearly Every Tuesday, which documented Thame’s weekly street market; Fairground Attraction, which explored the way of life of travelling showmen; A Few Streets, a Few People, an intimate portrait of the people and surroundings of the Cayo Hueso barrio in Havana, Cuba; In a Very English Town, which acknowledges qualities that typify Thame as an English market town; and Fortunate Steps, photographs made in Havana’s historic Calzada del Diez de Octubre. |
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BRAVE NEW BURMA
NIC DUNLOP Nic Dunlop spent 20 years photographing Burma under military rule. His new book, Brave New Burma, is an intimate portrait in words and pictures of a country finally emerging from decades of dictatorship, isolation and fear. From the frontlines of the civil war to deceptively tranquil cities, from the home of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to the lives of ordinary people struggling to survive, Brave New Burma is both an historic collection of rare images and a powerful exposé of Burma's crisis. Change has come to Burma for the first time in decades. But change brings dangers, including the erasing of history and the invention of a new Burma in appearance alone. Brave New Burma is a haunting record of a country now struggling to recreate itself. Nic Dunlop is a Bangkok-based photographer and writer represented by Panos Pictures in London. His work has been published worldwide. In 1999, he received an award from the John Hopkins University for Excellence in International Journalism for his discovery and exposure of Pol Pot’s chief executioner Comrade Duch, a story told in his book, The Lost Executioner. He also co-directed Burma Soldier, an HBO film which was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at the United Nations Association Film Festival and nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing. |
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TRACTOR BOYS
MARTIN BOGREN ESSAY BY CHRISTIAN CAUJOLLE Youngsters meet up on the village outskirts, racing their tractorcars, burning tyremarks into the warm summer asphalt. The smell of rubber, oil and souped-up engines fills the air when the engines speed. The cars form into a circle as the boys take turns in the middle. It is a game – showing their skills – showing off to the girls. Strength is measured and proved – as if in a strange ritual mating dance. The car of choice is known as an EPA tractor, a Swedish term for an older car converted for use as an agricultural machine. These became common in the 1930s and were previously called ‘car-tractors’. During the 1950s EPAs had almost died out as new tractors had come down in price and become more available. The EPAs were almost forgotten until youths discovered that the EPA law offered them a way to drive, even as 15 year-olds – and so during the 1960s and 1970s they became increasingly popular in rural areas. Tough rules are in force to restrict the gearing on the cars and their speed is supposed to be limited to 30 km per hour. There is also no suspension on the rear wheels, making them extremely uncomfortable to drive at high speed. However, the boys are skilled with cars and very creative when it comes to finding ways to bypass these legal and physical restrictions that limit the power and speed of the engines. The solutions they come up are numerous and are closely guarded secrets. Swedish born Martin Bogren first came to attention in 1996 with his book on the Swedish band, The Cardigans, who he photographed over several years while touring with the band. He has since published two photobooks, Ocean and, most recently, Lowlands. A winner of the prestigious Scanpix Photography Award in Sweden he has been exhibited throughout Scandinavia as well as in France, Ireland, Portugal, India and USA. Christian Caujolle is one of the France’s leading curators and critics. A founder of Agence VU he has curated major festivals such as PhotoEspaña, Rencontres d’Arles and Foto Biennale Rotterdam, and his extensive writings on photography have been published worldwide. |
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FRAGMENTS OF DARFUR
NEKTARIOS MARKOGIANNIS The war in Darfur, which has been controversially termed as ‘genocide’, is still ongoing, alongside a tardy peace negotiation process which began back in 2010. Around 300,000 people are estimated to have died from the combined effects of war, hunger and disease. Darfur is inhabited by tribes of both African and Arab lineage. Both groups had co-existed for centuries, however, as a result of the increasing desertification of the region in the 1970s and 1980s, the nomadic Arab tribes began to head south in search of water and grazing land. They soon arrived at the settle-ments of the Africans. Skirmishes followed, though the fighting was small in scale and ended in 1994. The conflict resumed in 2003 when African rebel groups, believing their communities to be neglected and marginalised, came together under the banner of the Darfur Liberation Front and initiated attacks on government locations. The Sudan government responded with major land and air assaults. By the summer of 2003 the infamous Janjaweed had become involved and by Spring 2004 they had killed several thousand non-Arabs and an estimated million more had been driven from their homes. Yet it was not until more than 100,000 refugees, pursued by Janjaweed militia, escaped to neighbouring Chad that the conflict captured the attention of an international audience. Born in Missolonghi, Greece, Nerris (Nektarios) Markogiannis began working as a photographer for the UN in 2008 in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations. His photographs have been featured internationally in a wide range of magazines and journals. |
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RAINBOW TRANSIT
PER-ANDERS PETTERSSON In 2014 South Africa will celebrate 20 years of Democracy since the ending of Apartheid. In Spring 1994 Per-Anders Pettersson arrived in South Africa to cover the country’s first democratic elections. Nelson Mandela was to become its first black president; he had been free for four years and had toured the world like a rock star. The election itself was of immense significance: from the ashes of a repressive, segregated and racist state a multi-racial nation miraculously emerged, one of the greatest success stories of the African continent. And so began his love affair with South Africa. Over two decades he explored the country, the ‘Rainbow Nation’, questioning the complex realities of daily life. For South Africa, Democracy was a hard won freedom that brought both rewards and new struggles: a soaring violent crime rate, disease, poverty and massive unemployment. Yet, South Africa’s policies reaped astonishing wealth for a new black elite, and saw the rapid emergence of a black middle class. The energy with which these so-called ‘black diamonds’ embraced capitalism was one of the most striking features of the transition. Their success also fostered a frenzied aspirational spirit amongst the poorer urban classes. However, during the second decade greed and disillusion began to smother this hope and aspiration. This is now the predominant theme in South African life. Swedish born, Per-Anders Pettersson is an award winning photographer – World Press Photo, PDN, POY, NPPA, CARE, CHIPP, Unicef Photo of the Year, American Photography, Commarts. He has exhibited several times at Visa Pour L’mage,Perpignan and at other festivals and galleries around the world. His last major exhibition was ‘Amazon’, a two person show with Sebastião Salgado, held at Somerset House, London, in November/December 2011 and later in Dublin. |
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AFGHAN BOX CAMERA
LUKAS BIRK & SEAN FOLEY Afghan Box Camera documents a living form of photography in danger of disappearing forever. Known as the kamra-e-faoree (‘instant camera’), Afghanistan is one of the last places on earth where it has continued to be used by photographers as a way of making a living. Hand-made out of wood, it is a camera and darkroom in one, and generations of Afghans have had their portraits taken with it, usually for identity documents. Under the Taliban, with the banning of photography, it was even outlawed, forcing photographers to hide or destroy their tools. Spanning decades, from peacetime to war, box camera photography in Afghanistan exists within a more sophisticated photographic history. The same photographers who ply their trade with the humble kamra-e-faoree may also make large format black and white portraits, which are then hand-coloured with exquisite artistry. With the help of dozens of Afghan photographers Afghan Box Camera illustrates the technique and artistry of a previously untold and visually enthralling photographic culture. Lukas Birk is an Austrian multi-media artist who exhibits regularly and organises visual-media workshops. He works primarily in Asia. In China and Indonesia he has set up artist-in-residency programmes as well as networks of local artists to co-operate with those in his native Austria. Sean Foley, an Irish ethnographer specialising in visual anthropology, works as a researcher on art projects. He first travelled to Afghanistan in 2002. He has made ethnographic films on mortuary workers in India, tourism in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and cultural ecology in the south of Greece. Between 2005-2007 Sean and Lukas collaborated, researching tourism in Afghanistan and the surrounding region. This resulted in the book Kafkanistan with an accompanying multi-media exhibition. |
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