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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Friday Round Up - 21 October, 2016

This week on Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up the finalists in the Nikon-Walkley Awards for Excellence in Photojournalism, Melbourne's Strange Neighbour hosts its last exhibition and never before seen photographs from E.O. Hoppé on show in California.

Awards:
2016 Nikon-Walkley Awards for Excellence in Photojournalism

Photo of the Year: The Man on the operating table. Picture: Andrew Quilty

This year I was honoured to be a judge for the photojournalism awards. The Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism are Australia’s most prestigious journalism awards.

On 13th October the finalists for Nikon-Walkley Awards for Excellence in Photojournalism were announced along with the 2016 Nikon-Walkley Photo of the Year, which was won by Andrew Quilty for “The Man on The Operating Table” pictured above.

The image was shot by Quilty inside the Médecins Sans Frontières Kunduz Trauma Center in Afghanistan, following the October 3, 2015, attack by an American AC-130 gunship on the hospital in which 42 were killed, including MSF staff, patients and patient carers.

This arresting image was a clear standout for the judges.

Other winners announced so far are:

Nikon-Walkley Portrait Prize
Winner: Brian Cassey, News Corp Australia, “Beaten Refugee”

Nikon-Walkley Community/Regional Prize
Winner: Marc McCormack, The Cairns Post, “Body of Work”

This is one of the images in the winning body of work. 

The finalists’ photographs will be toured around the nation in a series of free public exhibitions and are currently on display at the State Library of New South Wales and the ABC in Brisbane.

Finalists are selected by eminent journalists and photographers and overall winners judged by the Walkley Advisory Board. The winners will be announced at a gala event in Brisbane on 2nd December.

You can see all the finalists here.

Farewell Exhibition:

Permanence - Strange Neighbour

The Grotesque

Melbourne's Strange Neighbour gallery is closing, which is another blow to the city's dwindling number of photography-dedicated galleries. The final show is currently on featuring work by the gallery's creator and curator, Linsey Gosper. 

If you have time, pop in to see PERMANENCE, a solo exhibition of hand printed silver gelatin photographs that were taken in Europe and explore the mythological symbolic sculptures and architecture that have protected European cities and remained for centuries.

Death Always Comes

Mortarium

Mutter

The Guardians

Until 12 November
Strange Neighbour
395 Gore Street
Fitzroy

Exhibition:
Pasadena, California

E.O. Hoppé's Amerika: The First Great American Road Trip

Rooftops and smoking chimneys, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 1926

Curatorial Assistance presents an amazing collection of photographs in the exhibition E.O. Hoppé's Amerika: The First Great American Road Trip, which showcases masterworks that have recently been uncovered from the E.O. Hoppé Estate Collection archive.

E.O. Hoppé was a German-born British Photo-Modernist who is considered one of the most important art and documentary photographers of the modern era along with Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen and Walker Evans. Renowned as a portrait photographer, Hoppé also worked in the genres of landscape and travel.

In the 1926 he set off across America documenting his extraordinary transcontinental journey. The result is a collection of images that capture the many faces of America: urban New York, Pittsburgh’s “steel city”, Detroit's burgeoning industrial factories, Florida’s palms, the pueblos of Arizona and New Mexico, Yosemite’s majesty and Hollywood’s allure, are just some of the subjects that caught Hoppé’s eye.

Tahiti Beach, Coral Gables, Florida 1926

Towards the Evolution of the Modern Motor”, Ford Factory, Detroit, Michigan 1926

Pack yards, Chicago 1926 

Gas Station, “The Girl Behind the Pump” 1926

Signal Hill, Los Angeles 1926

Museum services company Curatorial Assistance, which manages the E.O. Hoppé archive, spent over a decade of organizing, cataloguing, conservation and digitizing Hoppé’s works. Now the public has a chance to see some of his amazing photographs.

“Hoppé’s insightful portrait of the United States is a revelation of diversity that ruminates on the country’s past, present, and future,” says Graham Howe of Curatorial Assistance. “This visionary work was the first to survey America at a unique time in its history, anticipating the road trips of other photographers such as Edward Weston and Walker Evans in the late 1930s, and Robert Frank in the mid-1950s.” 

Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, Colorado 1926

Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, California 1926

The exhibition will feature a selection of vintage prints, modern prints from original negatives, and related ephemera, providing a rare glimpse into Hoppé’s archive.

Dick Matherck, rancher, Colorado 1926

Portrait of a man, Nassau 1926

21 October Until 31 December
Union Gallery at Curatorial Assistance
113 East Union Street,
Pasadena CA

Friday Round Up - 23 September, 2016

This week on Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up we're in Paris, New York and Amsterdam with French photographer Viviane Dalles, Photoville under the Brooklyn Bridge and at Foam for the amazing exhibition 100 years of Albanian photography.

Exhibition: Paris
Viviane Dalles - Teenage Mothers

French photojournalist Viviane Dalles new exhibition on teenage mothers is currently showing in Paris. Dalles, the 2014 winner of the Canon Female Photojournalist Award, said, “In France, five thousand juvenile mothers (aged 14 to 18) who may not have wanted to be pregnant, chose to keep their babies – a difficult and unusual choice in modern western societies. They dropped out of school to build a new life, caught between the turmoil of their teenage years and the happiness of motherhood.” This photo essay captures part of their journey.

Until 22 October
Fait & Cause
58, rue Quincampoix

75004 Paris

Festival: New York
Photoville

The fifth edition of Photoville is happening right now on the Brooklyn Waterfront. This year the festival is on under the iconic Brooklyn Bridge in the arts precinct of Dumbo. Once again there are exhibitions in containers as well as outdoors, plus there is a projections and workshop programme. Many exhibitions are multi-platform involving photography, moving image and audio as well as other art forms including sculpture.

Here’s a peek at what’s on offer in the container exhibition programme:

Haul
Emily Schiffer 

In this project which uses photography and sculpture American artist Emily Schiffer reimagines the concept of a family album “to explore how unspoken histories and traumas are passed between generations”. The exhibition is in three parts: The Album and the sculptural works, Impressions from 2016 and Gift to My Daughter.

LiveZEKE 

(C)Ara Oshagan
Through video conferencing LiveZEKE brings the subjects of a documentary into a live conversation with audiences. LiveZEKE is based on a feature article from the spring 2016 edition of ZEKE magazine - “The Forgotten Caucasus” - which showcases documentary photography from the countries and regions of the South Caucasus — Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Nagorno-Karabakh — by photographers Ara Oshagan, Daro Sulakauri and Jan Zychlinski.

Political Theatre
Mark Peterson


New York photographer Mark Peterson has spent the past two years photographing presidential candidates. He says, "I want to pull back the curtain and show these politicians as they really are. Even though they are in plain sight, they can hide behind words and carefully arranged imagery to project their vision of America. I am using my camera to cut through the staging of these moments and reveal the cold, naked ambition for power”.

Signs of Your Identity
Daniella Zalcman 

Winner of this year’s FotoEvidence Book Award, Daniella Zalcman's Signs of Your Identity explores the impact of Canada’s residential schools on its indigenous people. “Generations of Canada’s First Nations forgot who they were. Languages died out, sacred ceremonies were criminalized and suppressed. These double exposure portraits explore the trauma of some of the 80,000 living survivors who remain. Through extensive accompanying interviews, they address the impact of intergenerational trauma and lateral violence, documenting the slow path toward healing. The last residential school closed in 1996. The Canadian government issued its first formal apology in 2008”.

A Few Acres of Snow 

(C) Tim Smith
This group show on the cultural diversity of Canada features work by Rafal Gerszak, Christopher Katsarov Luna, Yoanis Menge, Jalani Morgan, Renaud Philippe and Tim Smith.

Flint is a Place 

Zackary Canepari

This city in Michigan is considered the “poster child for the American Dream gone wrong.” American documentary photographer and filmmaker Zackary Canepari showcases his project, Flint is a Place, which is a cross-platform, episodic documentary series that tells what it’s like to live in Flint through the eyes of two sisters.

Check out the Photoville website for all the details.
Until 25 September

Various locations

Exhibition: Amsterdam
Dynasty Marubi - A Hundred Years of Albanian Studio Photography

Zonder Titel voor 1881 natte plaat C Pietro Marubi 

(C) Marubi National Museum of Photography Shkoder

In this exhibition Foam showcases a selection of images from the archive of Albanian photo studio Marubi (1856-1959). Three generations of photographers used the studio to create portraits of royalty including the Ottoman Emperor and King Zog as well celebrated artists and also everyday people. The archive contains a staggering 150,000 glass negatives providing a unique cultural, sociological and anthropological insight into the history of Albania. 

  

(C) Marubi National Museum of Photography Shkoder

(C) Marubi National Museum of Photography Shkoder

(C) Marubi National Museum of Photography Shkoder

Kel Marubi with his wife in the studio no date silver gelatine dry process on glass 

C Kel Marubi, Marubi National Museum of Photography Shkoder


Until 27 November
Foam Fotografiemuseum
Keizersgracht 609, Amsterdam

Friday Round Up - 27 November, 2015

On Friday Round Up Rock Against Racism, Berenice Abbott and Angkor Photo Festival. This week’s post comes from my sick bed. Not only did I come home from Europe with a host of photography books. I also picked up a rotten respiratory infection so am writing from the comfort of my bed at some ridiculous hour of the morning as sleep eludes me. Am trusting my brain is still functioning!

Next week begins December's annual Book Reviews in the lead to Christmas. Books make great gifts,  and I'm excited to feature a number of wonderful titles. But to this week's post…enjoy.

Exhibition: London
Syd Shelton - Rock Against Racism

Rock Against Racism Supporters

One of the exhibitions I caught in London was Syd Shelton's Rock Against Racism. Fantastic black and white images that show Shelton's street photography roots and capture the electrified movement that saw punk rock and reggae bands come together to fight racism and celebrate diversity in the late seventies. The message here is no different to today. Intolerance has no place in our societies.

Rock Against Racism was formed in 1976 by a group of writers, musicians and artists to counter the then rising support for the National Front. Shelton was one of the early members and became the movement's de facto photographer. The movement put on concerts and also participated in protests. The most renown being 1977's Battle of Lewisham where 125 National Front marchers staged an 'anti-mugging' march only to come up against around 10,000 Rock Against Racism supporters.

“At the time, if you were young, black, and male in particular, then you were really caricatured as a mugger," says Shelton. "It was a little bit like the nonsensical thing that sees all Muslim people as Jihadists. It’s the same sort of caricature and it was really horrific.”

Bagga, vocalist with Matumbi

Anti-racist Skinheads, Hoxton, London 1978

Rock Against Racism Concert 1978

Mick Jones and Paul Simonon, The Clash

Rock Against Racism Concert 1978

By 1978 tens of thousands participated in Rock Against Racism marches and bands such as The Clash and Tom Robinson Band were headlining Rock Against Racism concerts as the new wave of punk rock took hold.

The movement lasted for about five years and Shelton says he believes they were successful in changing attitudes. "That's what we wanted to do. We felt as though we could change things and I think we did".

Rock Against Racism is also a book and you can buy it here.

Until 5 December
Rivington Place
London
EC2A 3BA

Berenice Abbott

Berenice Abbott Self-Portrait

Another exhibition I saw in London at Beetles+Huxley in Mayfair, which finished this week, was a collection of works by Berenice Abbott (1898-1991). I really loved this show too.

Abbott was a pioneer and her journey is an inspiration - photographer, businesswoman, inventor of photographic equipment, teacher and artist - are just a few of the labels she earned. Her story is one of determination and open-mindedness. A free spirit with a brilliant mind. At the age of 19 she dropped out of journalism school at Ohio State University, as she didn't agree with the politics of academia, and moved to New York with nothing more than what she could carry. There she worked odd jobs and lived with friends in Greenwich Village. Surrounded by artists she began to explore her creative side.

In the early 1920s her love of sculpture drew her to Paris where she was introduced to photography as Man Ray's darkroom assistant. The pair had met earlier in New York. She needed a job and he wanted someone who wasn't a photographer. It was an ideal arrangement.

Abbott is quoted as saying "Man Ray did not teach me photographic techniques. One day he did, however, suggest that I ought to take some (photographs) myself; he showed me how the camera worked and I soon began taking some on my lunch break. I would ask friends to come by and I’d take pictures of them. The first I took came out well, which surprised me. I had no idea of becoming a photographer, but the pictures kept coming out and most of them were good. Some were very good and I decided perhaps I could charge something for my work".

At work

Portrait Eugene Atget

Portrait Jean Cocteau

Portrait Jessie Cateicher

Portrait Unknown

By 1926 Abbott was exhibiting and had a thriving photographic studio of her own. She didn't look back and never worked for anyone again. She spent almost a decade in Paris where she cemented her reputation as a leading portrait photographer. One of her most personal portraits was of French photographer Eugene Atget whose work Abbott greatly admired. She is credited with championing the work of Atget whose archive Abbott secured after his death.

Three years later Abbott moved back to New York, but it was the beginning of the Great Depression and work was hard to procure even for someone with her reputation. She multi-tasked shooting portraits, editorial work, teaching and applying for grants (sound familiar?). 

Her long career is defined by her portraits and her decade-long documentation of New York City, as well as road trips and the work she did in the field of science in the forties in a bid to bring the wonders of science to the masses. Below are two of my favourite Berenice Abbott science photographs.

Last week in London I had the opportunity to see some of these works on show at Beetles + Huxley Gallery in the final days of the exhibition. I also bought the catalogue, an elegant production that allows me to revisit the images at my leisure. The catalogues produced by many of the galleries in Europe are just exquisite and I could easily fill my bookshelves (if I had any empty shelves to fill that is!). At least the catalogues are small enough to bring home in an already laden suitcase.

Festival: Cambodia
Angkor Photo Festival and Workshops

Next Friday the 11th Edition of Angkor Photo opens in Siem Reap, Cambodia with an extensive line up of exhibitions, projections and workshops. To find out more visit the site here, but for a taste… 

Vlad Sokhin - Kiribati
Cosmos/Panos

 

James Whitlow Delano - Scorched Earth: China’s Wounded Environment 

Gabi Ben Avraham 

Palani Mohan - Hunting with Eagles 

Sergine Laloux - At the Heart of Tibetan Buddhism 

5-12 December
Siem Reap, Cambodia