Photojournalism Now: January 2017

January 27, 2017

Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up - 27 January, 2017

This week on Photojournalism Now two very different bodies of work: Dorothea Lange's censored photographs from 1942 of Japanese-Americans being "relocated", and a new exhibition in London of American photographer Joel Sternfeld's work.

Censored Photos:
Dorothea Lange - Japanese-Americans in 1942

Dorothea Lange’s photographs of the ‘relocation’ of Japanese-Americans in 1942, were hidden away in the National Archives in the USA until 2006. The book, Impounded: Dorothea Lange and the Censored Images of Japanese American Internment by historians Linda Gordon and Gary Okihiro, features 119 images of Lange’s that were originally censored by the US military. These images “tell the story of the thousands of lives unalterably shattered by racial hatred brought on by the passions of war”. I thought it an important series to show at a time when there is such racial unrest in the US, to remind us of the consequences of turning against our own citizens.

Exhibition:

Joel Sternfeld - Colour Photographs 1977-1988

Wet 'n Wild Aquatic Theme Park, Orlando, Florida, September 1980 © Joel Sternfeld courtesy Luhring Augustine Gallery and Beetles + Huxley Gallery

Beetles+Huxley is one of my favourite galleries in London, known for its discerning curation, wonderful space and cool location. I first came across Beetles+Huxley when they showed Berenice Abbott's work a couple of years ago and have been a fan ever since.

Today its latest exhibition opens, the first solo UK show for American photographer Joel Sternfeld in 15 years. The show features both well known images and some never exhibited. Included are vintage dye transfer prints from one of Sternfeld’s best known bodies of work, “American Prospects”, which was published as a book in 1987 and is considered “one of the most influential bodies of photographic work from this period”. Shot on an 8x10 camera, which Sternfeld carried with him across the United States, this work is in the vein of the documentary tradition established in the 1930s by Walker Evans and furthered by Robert Frank in the 1950s.

McLean, Virginia, December 1978

Rustic Canyon, Santa Monica, California, May 1979

Red Rock State Campground (Boy), Gallup, New Mexico, September 1982

Near Ketchum, Idaho, October 1980

Kansas City, Kansas, May 1983

Grafton, West Virginia, February, 1983

Agoura, California, February 1988

Gallery director Giles Huxley-Parlour says, ”Sternfeld's work has become an influential part of art history and has shaped the way that the world looks at American life and culture. His pioneering early colour photographs present a country of immense beauty and opportunity, but one seemingly stuck at a turning point: proud of its past as a noble experiment in democracy, but fraught with various new and disturbing forces. His work resonates strongly today at a time of such upheaval in American politics and society."

Joel Sternfeld Colour Photographs 1977-1988
Beetles + Huxley Gallery
3-5 Swallow Street
London W1B 4DE
27 January – 18 February

January 20, 2017

Photojournalism Now - Friday Round Up 20 January, 2017

This week on Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up, it's all about Circulation(s) a festival in Paris designed to promote young European photographers.

Special Feature:
Circulation(s) - Festival of Young European Photography

Le Damas des autres © Poline Harbali

Now in its seventh year, the 2017 jury for Circulation(s) received more than 800 entries from which 25 artists were selected. There is also a program of invited artists. The Festival is held at the CENTQUATRE-PARIS, a residency and production space for artists from around the world. This vibrant cultural centre attracts more than 500,000 visitors a year.

I think it's interesting to look at the styles young photographers are engaging with and while I don't personally like all of these images, they do demonstrate the diversity in subject matter and approach.

Following the Paris showing, Circulation(s) will hit the festival circuit with projections shown in Ireland, Belgium, Portugal, UK, Italy and Poland. It’s great exposure for these young artists. Circulation(s) is a project by Fetart, a nonprofit created in 2005 to promote young photographers.

Circulation(s)
CENTQUATRE-PARIS
Opens 21st January until 5th March

Ibaba © Marie Moroni

Sparks © Wiktoria Wojciechowska

In your place © Ludovica Bastianini

Kwei Yih © Zhen Shi

Lingering Ghosts © Sam Ivin

Even This will pass © Aida Silvestri

Home Again © Thodoris Papadakis

A couple of them © Johanna Benaïnous & Elsa Parra

Skateboarding Tehran © Mathias Zwick

Nothing Personal © Yiannis Pantelidis

Veteran © Sasha Maslov

Je suis morte à Auschwitz et personne ne le voit © Brétin Frédérique

Oxymoron © Kostis Argyriadis

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January 13, 2017

The First Friday Round Up for 2017 - 13 January

Happy New Year to all my readers!

I always like to start a new year by reflecting on the one that has just passed. If I had any doubt that 2016 was a busy year, looking back I wrote around 40 feature articles on photography alone for magazines and newspapers around the world!

Some of the stories I wrote for L'Oeil de la Photographie in 2016

Some of the stories I wrote for Pro Photo and also Australian Financial Review

Features I wrote for New Zealand Pro Photographer magazine

On Photojournalism Now I featured more than 100 photographers showcasing a staggering variety of work from around the globe. This week I share some of my favourite posts from last year's blog - 13 on the 13th - although everything I post is something that moves me in some way.

Brian Griffin - Capitalist Realism

Brian Griffin, Bureaucracy, London, 1987
Courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery, New York

Brian Griffin, Eric Foster, Steel Erector, Broadgate, City of London, 1987

Courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery, New York

Brian Griffin, Construction Time Again, Switzerland , 1983
Courtesy Steven Kasher Gallery, New York

Matthew Newton - On Albatross Island

Re-bonding after years at sea alone.

Lauren Fleishman - The Lovers

Muhammed Muheisen – Portraits of Syria's Child Refugees in Jordan

Rakan Raslan, 11, from Hama. “I used to go to the school back in Hama,” Raslan said. “I used to have friends there. Our home was destroyed in the war and we had to flee to Jordan.” Rakan said that without an education, his future is in doubt. “The best I can become is a driver".