The first sneak preview of work from We English will be on display at the New York Photo Festival during May.
A selection of four photographs will be exhibited in a group show curated by Jon Levy, publisher of Foto 8, entitled ‘Home For Good’. The exhibition will also feature the work of Lorraine Gruppe, Tim Hetherington, Chris Killip, Venetia Dearden, Seba Kurtis, Louie Palu, and David Gray.
As Levy writes “Home for Good will explore the idea that storytelling begins at home. We will be employing documentary photography in its many forms – the family album, first day cover, film stills, portraits, magazine layouts and even as the basis for fiction – as the most potent method of transmission. The exhibition explores the ways that photographs have been, and continue to be, used to connect people with issues, emotions, and events. The photographers chosen to represent this theme and the formats they have employed embody the wide range of tools and ideas photography uses in its dual purpose of communicating public fact and personal feeling. If it succeeds, the show will allow a space for contemplating some of the issues we face collectively, before you head back, safely, we hope, to wherever you call home.”
And these are the images-
Devil’s Dyke, South Downs, East Sussex, 6th March 2008 © Simon Roberts
Cotswold Water Park, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, 11th May 2008 © Simon Roberts
Tandridge Golf Course, Oxted, Surrey, 2nd April 2008 © Simon Roberts
Holkham National Nature Reserve, Norfolk, 18th February 2008 © Simon Roberts
“The work on show is art by its best definitions, and the photographers have been chosen both for the subjects that they take on and their ability to address their inquiries through strong photography. The work in Home For Good examines the tensions between being ‘at home’- your homeland, your new home, or in your own skin, and what it means to be far away from home, a migrant, a soldier, when home becomes a distant object. How is ‘home’ imagined? War destablizes the idea of home, putting it to contest, making it abstract, putting it at risk. ”
The Festival runs from 13th – 17th May at various venues around New York’s DUMBO district. You can find more information here.
Additional exhibitions are curated by William A.Ewing, Jody Quon and Chris Boot (who is publishing We English).
Posted in REVIEWS & PRESS | 3 Comments »
I’ve just been informed that a 75th anniversary edition of JB Priestley’s classic book, ‘English Journey’ is to be published by
Great Northern Books in July 2009.
The book will feature archive and contemporary images of the places visited by Priestley on his journey, an original unabridged version of Priestley’s text, which was first published in 1934, alongside an introduction by Tom Priestley (JBP’s son) and an essay on the social, political and literary legacy of the book by Lee Hanson. It will also contain essays on Priestley and specific locations featured in the book by Margaret Drabble, Nina Bawden, Roy Hattersley, Alan Plater, William Woodruff, Dr John Baxendale and Beryl Bainbridge.
English Journey will be featured at the London Festival of Literature, The Purcell Room, Southbank Centre on Friday 10 July, at which Tom Priestley and Margaret Drabble will speak about, and answer questions on, Priestley’s legacy.
Posted in OTHER STUDIES | Comments Off on PRIESTLEY’S ENGLISH JOURNEY, 2009 EDITION
The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, has again been talking about English national identity (see my previous post).
Speaking at the Oxford Literary Festival last week Sentamu called for a new sense of English national identity – with the help of flags, football and patriotic songs, such as 3 Lions by the comedians David Baddiel and Frank Skinner. He said the England football team and the cross of St George could play a crucial part in solving the nation’s identity crisis by uniting people of all races and ages. He also floated the possibility that St George’s Day should become a bank holiday.
Concluding his Oxford lecture, Sentamu said: “Englishness is back on the agenda. One of the consequences of attacks by so-called home grown terrorists has been to ask the question of what it means to be English? Can there be a narrative, an identity we can all share, flexible enough to recognise the new aspects of England whilst remaining authentic enough to proudly name and recognise its own history?
“Where there is no awareness of identity, there is a vacuum to be filled. Dissatisfaction with one’s heritage creates an opening for extremist ideologies. Whether it be the terror of salafi jihadism or the insidious institutional racism of the British National Party, there are those who stand ready to fill the vacuum with a sanitised identity and twisted vision if the silent majority hold back from forging a new identity.”
You can read more about his speech in The Observer here.
Posted in ENGLISHNESS | Comments Off on ARCHBISHOP OF YORK WAVES FLAG FOR ENGLAND
“What one man saw, heard, thought and felt on a journey through England†J B Priestly, quoted in English Journey
I was pleased to hear from another British photographer, John Angerson, who is heading out on the road documenting England. Angerson is following in the footsteps of J.B. Priestley who wrote English Journey, a celebrated account of his travels through rural and industrial England in the 1930s. 2009 marks the 75th anniversary of its publication.
Angerson says his project will “highlight– as Priestley did – industry, migration, shifting communities, and citizenship, questions that were as relevant in the 1930s as they are now. Priestley’s English Journey is an example of an individual’s perception of place, and how a place is determined by the particular viewpoint from which it is observed. This is relevant to what we know about the nature of photography. Photographs are subjective- documentary photography can only ever be about the photographer’s perceptions of places, and people they encounter.”
Here are some of his early photographs-
Rob Brown, Deputy Manager of Campanile, French hotel chain, Leicester © John Angerson
Etap hotel, West Quay Road, Southampton. Price per night £46.00 © John Angerson
Student James Cottle, Coventry © John Angerson
Lish Fernandes, call centre worker and finalist in the Miss Wiltshire Beauty contest, Swindon © John Angerson
Black Castle Public House, Brislington, Bristol © John Angerson
Cruise liner in Southampton, Docks for repairs © John Angerson
New housing estate, Baildon, Bradford © John Angerson
Asim Bukhari, worker at NG Bailey, a building service solutions company © John Angerson
The Sweet Centre restaurant, Lumb Lane, Bradford © John Angerson
Stafford Roadchef Services, Junction 15, M6 motorway, Stoke-on-Trent © John Angerson
Anna Baranovska orginally from Latvia who was shortlisted for Miss England, Birmingham © John Angerson
Carpeo Ltd is a 2500 square foot Call centre with 130 employees, Swindon © John Angerson
You can see more on his website. I’ve also sent a few questions to John about the project which I’ll hopefully be able to post up soon.
Posted in OTHER STUDIES, RESEARCH | 2 Comments »
