The V&A Photography Centre has been entirely rehung with two new photography displays. Maurice Broomfield: Industrial Sublime presents the late photographer’s dramatic photographs of mid-century British and foreign industry, and Known and Strange: Photographs from the Collection highlight photography’s power to transform the familiar into the unfamiliar, and the ordinary into the extraordinary. 

Maurice Broomfield: Industrial Sublime showcases the late photographer’s dramatic photographs of mid-century British and foreign industry, capturing factories and their workers in an era of rapid transition. Born to a working-class family near Derby, Maurice Broomfield (1916-2010) worked at the city’s Rolls Royce factory after leaving school at the age of fifteen. He attended Derby Art College in the evenings, then worked in advertising before earning a position as Britain’s premier industrial photographer throughout the 1950s and 60s.

The display features over 40 original exhibition prints, drawn from Broomfield’s extensive archive housed at the V&A. These are shown alongside a selection of Broomfield’s cameras – lent from the private collection of his son, the renowned documentary film maker Nick Broomfield – as well as other contextual items which have never been exhibited before, including historic film footage, audio recordings, press cuttings, contact prints, negatives, trade publications and pages from works order books, shining a light onto the photographer’s working processes.

Most of Broomfield’s photographs were originally commissioned for publication in company reports, but he also selected and printed some of them at large scale for inclusion in photography exhibitions. From shipyards to papermills, textiles to food production, and atomic power stations to car manufacture, Broomfield emphasised the dramatic, romantic, sublime and sometimes surreal qualities of industry. Today, many of the factories he photographed – and the communities of workers and skills that supported them – have either vanished or been subsumed into global corporations.

His archive, containing over 30,000 images, comprising negatives, contact prints, exhibition prints, press cuttings, business records, and promotional materials, survives as a valuable record of this history, while his images can be appreciated for their artistry. Highlights include his spectacular image of a half million-volt charge on ceramic insulators for Royal Doulton potteries; a surreal scene of a woman inspecting the assembly of a generator for the English Electric Company; blast furnaces and fettlers at the Ford car factory at Dagenham; and the high-tech lighting laboratory at Phillips in the Netherlands. Broomfield’s photographs remain relevant today, prompting questions about digital technologies replacing manual labour, the UK entering an uncertain economic future in relation to the rest of the world, and the toxic social and environmental legacy of industry.

To accompany the display, the V&A has published a new book on Maurice Broomfield, written by V&A Senior Curator Martin Barnes and with a foreword by Nick Broomfield. Barnes discusses the life and work of Maurice, whom he came to know well as he worked to transfer his archive from his Hampshire home to the museum.

Images:
Top right: Maurice Broomfield, Woman Examining a Sample, Shell International, Holland Laboratories, 1968. © Estate of Maurice Broomfield.
Centre and lower: Installation shots of the Broomfield display. Courtesy: V&A Museum, London. 

Leicester's De Montfort University has re-launched its MA in photographic history with an innovative new distance learning approach to teaching that allows students to take the course at their own pace. The new course starts from January 2022 and then runs on a termly rolling basis meaning students can join at three points during the year, building up credits to a full MA.

The postgraduate course builds on remote teaching expertise developed over the past two years and will particularly suit students and those simply wishing to learn, especially from outside of the UK and unable to commit to full-time, or even traditional part-time, study. Teaching is asynchronous except for tutorials which are by appointment. All students will have anytime access to audio and/or visual material of lectures. 

Units of 15 learning credits can be completed on a standalone basis offering those simply wishing to develop knowledge in particular areas a rigorous and assessed pathway to do so. Any credits can be used to extend this in to a full MA. Those looking to study full-time can complete a MA in one year, or part-time in two years. 

The standard modules are: 

• Learning Photographic History Online (compulsory for all students)
• Photographic Historiography I (15 credits)
• Photographic Historiography II (15 credits)
• Photography and the Arts (15 credits)
• Photography, Science and Technology (15 credits)
• Photography, Ethics and Emotions (15 credits)
• Material Histories 1830s to 1930s (15 credits)
• Material Histories 1930s to Now (15 credits)
• Photography and Politics (15 credits)
• Photography and Digital Politics (15 credits)
• Fieldwork (30 credits)
• Dissertation or Heritage Project (60 credits)

Each 15 credit module encompasses 150 hours of learning, researching and assessment. The 30 credit module and 60 credit module are 300 and 600 hours respectively.

Full details can be found here: https://www.dmu.ac.uk/study/courses/postgraduate-courses/photographic-history-ma-degree/photographic-history-ma-degree.aspx

Do you have experience in developing and telling engaging stories to non-specialist audiences? Do you want to play a key role in an exciting project for the National Science and Media Museum?

The Sound and Vision galleries will bring our world-class collections of photography, film, television and sound technologies to the forefront of the National Science and Media Museum. New galleries will highlight the significant contribution sound and visual technologies have had on the world, and a programme of activities developed alongside the galleries will raise aspirations, develop skills and increase digital confidence in young people. Sound & Vision’s galleries and activities will be a driving force in the regeneration of Bradford.

We are now recruiting for a story weaver who can lead the creative content for the National Science and Media Museum’s transformation of its public offer through the Sound and Vision Masterplan Project. As Interpretation Manager you will develop and implement the gallery interpretation strategy for the project. Through your work with the project team, architects, designers and other contractors you will ensure that the interpretation elements are creative, engaging and connect with our audiences.

You will understand the importance of design, AV, interactives and text in the exhibitions, bringing skills for writing briefs, directing contractors and designers to achieve excellence in our interpretive approach. You will also work on our collaborative community projects to develop content that will be shown on gallery.

The role will sit in the exhibitions team, but will be operate across departments, particularly the curatorial, masterplan and learning teams to help deliver new and innovative ways to tell stories about our collections to a broad range of audiences.

For further information and to apply please visit: https://bit.ly/3BAQfhG

The V&A’s Collections Division comprises six curatorial, research, and conservation and collections care and access teams. The curatorial departments are arranged as Decorative Art and Sculpture; Performance, Furniture, Textiles and Fashion; Art, Architecture, Photography and Design; and Asia. The staff in these teams are at the heart of the founding purpose of the museum: to care for, research and develop the collections, to exhibit them to the public, to make them available for study and research, and to broaden access to the collections.

This is an exciting new role and the postholder will take responsibility for the development, care of, documentation and research, presentation, and interpretation of a part of V&A’s Collection, in this case, the Photography Collection. The role is especially focused on curating contemporary photography. The postholder will be expected to represent the Museum at the highest level and play an active role in the field of contemporary photography collecting, nationally and internationally.

As a member of the Art Architecture, Photography and Design, the postholder will also play a role in the wider work of the V&A, contributing to policy, projects and public programmes, supporting fundraising and income generation, and supporting senior colleagues in the running of the Department, including by creating a positive environment, encouraging collaboration across the museum, supporting change, leading and managing Assistant Curators and sharing knowledge, expertise and best practice to help them develop and perform.

Closing date for receipt of applications is 8 November 2021 at 23.59

This new publication has been published by Bristol Ideas as part of Bristol Film 2021. It consists of specially commissioned essays written by people from across the city or with specialist knowledge of cinema, including William Friese-Greene. It is available to collect from venues across the city including the Royal Photographic Society, Watershed and Arnolfini. 

Opening up the Magic Box. Friese-Greene and Reflections on Film
Melanie Kelly (editor)
Bristol Ideas, 2021, 196 pages
Available free

The V&A London is seeking a Curator, Digital Art. This is one of nine Curator posts that sit in the Art, Architecture, Photography and Design Department. The post holder will take responsibility for the development, care of, documentation and research, presentation, and interpretation of a part of V&A’s Collection, in this case, digital art. The Museum holds one of the world’s largest and most important collections of computer-generated art, created from the 1950s onwards. As such, the postholder will be expected to represent the Museum at the highest level and play an active role in the field of computer and digital art collecting, nationally and internationally.

As a member of the Art, Architecture, Photography and Design Department, the postholder will also play a role in the wider work of the V&A, contributing to policy, projects and public programmes, supporting fundraising and income generation, and supporting senior colleagues in the running of the Department, including by creating a positive environment, encouraging collaboration across the museum, supporting change, leading and managing Assistant Curators and sharing knowledge, expertise and best practice to help them develop and perform. The postholder will also play a role in the community of practice digital art, design and photography Senior Curators, Curators and Assistant Curators that will span the four curatorial teams.

Details here: https://app.vacancy-filler.co.uk/salescrm/Careers/CareersPage.aspx?e=LMo8nnTwYNZ-kppOIIdifD8XhL7Lz3TggHk9gf4pbl76oGRijDFpkXVgxlUqvquuVwLKrZE9RVo~&iframe=true

Impressions Gallery are seeking to appoint a Curatorial Programme Manager to work as part of our small and dedicated team. The person will manage our programme of innovative, thought-provoking photographic exhibitions, commissions, touring and other projects that realise the gallery’s artistic vision, and its commitment to diverse, and often marginalised, audiences. Other key responsibilities include overseeing and implementing our press and marketing strategy, supporting our learning, engagement and event programmes, and championing Impressions Gallery nationally and internationally.

We are looking for a dynamic, creative and ambitious individual, who is highly organised and able to balance multiple projects and priorities. Applicants must have relevant photographic knowledge and experience of working within a professional contemporary visual arts environment.

See:https://www.impressions-gallery.com/opportunity/curatorial-programme-manager/

The Classic magazine has recently published two features of interest to British photography. The London Photograph Fair - 40 Years On looks at this pioneering fair which will mark its fortieth anniversary in 2022. Its first outing was on Sunday 12 September 1982, and it was held at The Photographers’ Gallery in Newport Street, just off Charing Cross Road. It was the brainchild of Peter Agius LRPS, Fenton Medallist, and former Chairman of the Historical Group of the Royal Photographic Society. His italic scripted posters will be familiar to those of us who were interested in collection in the 1980s and 1990s. 

"Talking French" is a conversation between Philippe Garner about the British fashion photographer John French who trained many photographers, not least David Bailey and Terence Donovan. 

See: https://theclassicphotomag.com/the-london-photograph-fair-40-years-on/ and 

https://theclassicphotomag.com/talking-french-conversation-with-philippe-garner-about-the-british-fashion-photographer-john-french/

Details of The Classic which is distributed free and available online are here: https://theclassicphotomag.com/

Image: Unknown photographer. Tea time in the studio, 1951. Left to right, Pat Goddard, John French, and assistant and Michael Toll.

Peering into a small, magical box an eager new audience in the 1850s was transported into another dimension. Stereoscopic 3D images allowed them to experience the wonders of the world without ever leaving their fireside, see the heroes of the day in realistic detail, enjoy sentimental scenes or watch the construction of Brunel’s Great Eastern ship on the banks of the Thames. Millions of images were published and voraciously consumed by the public in just a few glorious years.

Dr Brian May and Denis Pellerin reveal some of the highlights of this extraordinary scientific, artistic and social revolution in this special event, transmitted live from the beautiful chapel at King’s College London. The stereoscope was first demonstrated in 1838 by Charles Wheatstone, inventor and Professor of Experimental Philosophy at King's College, which is now the home of his remarkable archive.

Join two of the world’s leading authorities on this early form of virtual reality, Brian May and Denis Pellerin, on the publication of their major new book, Stereoscopy: the Dawn of 3-D.

Stereoscopy: The Dawn of 3-D. Brian May and Denis Pellerin
Wednesday, 10 November 2021, 19:30 - 20:45
British Library, online, book here. 

The Photographic Collections Network has announced a series of events relevant to collections and archives of photography. These range from copyright to environmental sustainability. Details are below.  The PCN is working on a collaborative research project with The Photography and the Archive Research Centre at LCC, exploring what a new Directory of Photographic Collections could look like, how it would function and what it could provide. If you can spare a few minutes to be part of this research click this link https://fulcrm.link/2/15504/2712/95rr6ff0908l24r2cr621f2m708m4936 to answer a few short questions and help us shape a future directory.

Save the Date: Copyright,IP and archive photos Wednesday 1st December, 2-3pm GMT: online
We will be having an online talk led by the Intellectual Property Office on copyright and IP. If you have questions you can put them forward before the event by clicking this link leading to an online form. https://fulcrm.link/2/15505/2712/190849ru201m8408ulm8fmm9225680u8

Photo Histories PCN & Redeye collaboration: FREE Online events:
Redeye's Photo Histories is a new strand of events that looks at some of the many histories that photography can uncover. The strand features photographers, archivists, scholars and historians exploring some of the lesser-known and under-represented histories of photography.

Format Collective, 27 Oct 7-8:30 pm BST
Maggie Murray, founder of Format Collective. Established in 1983, Format was the first and only women's agency in Britain. If you’ve read the excellent recent book, Photography of Protest and Community by Noni Stacey, you might wonder how the radical collectives of the 1970s transitioned into the progressive photography of today. This talk sheds light on that era. Format Collective tended to focus on events and individuals who weren't being represented in mainstream media. From LGBTQ+ marches to The Miners' Strike to women's rights movements, these women photographed a range of important political events and social movements. 

In this talk Maggie Murray will take us through how and why Format was set up as a collective and agency for women photographers. As well as what it was like being a photographer, and especially a female photojournalist in the 1980s and 90s. Maggie will give us an insight into how the members juggled different aspects of their core aims such as creative, commercial and political. She takes us through the struggles they faced, how they overcame them with support, and how they developed, both collectively and individually. And finally, what led to the closure of the agency in 2003. 
https://fulcrm.link/2/15506/2712/1706r714c4m778rm46541005ur120516

Material Histories Online, 2 Nov 7-8:30pm GMT
The study of photographic history has often depended on interacting physically with materials - we learn a lot about prints, negatives, plates and equipment from handling them. But now much more of our life is online, and that’s likely to continue. So how do we adapt this subject to the restrictions of online learning - and what are the possible benefits and new opportunities of learning in the digital world?

We are delighted to welcome Professor Kelley Wilder to guide us through this renewed learning space. 

In this talk Kelley introduces some photographic materials and explores how we can interact with them in a meaningful way. She will invite us to consider how the digital world is changing what we learn about materials, and how we learn it. You are then welcome to take part in an open discussion, where she creates talking points, demonstrates a few things, and sets out some ambitions for a new world of learning. Come along and join in as much as you like; if you would like to sit back and listen, that is fine too!
https://fulcrm.link/2/15507/2712/f54r328cl89cu01mfu350m0u3855f2mu

Engage Gallery Education: 
Applying conversations on class and inequality in collections
28 Oct 10-11:30am £40 for non members

Workshop: Jon Sleigh will reflect on a recent project with the National Gallery on class, and its application in three physical tours at the gallery. Key questions and sharing will look at the value of applying contemporary lived experience to historical work. This workshop’s particular focus is around ideas of class and economic inequality. The workshop will also consider how the educator might orient themselves within such readings, in ways that support the educator’s own safeguarding. We’ll look at language, establishing ethics of content with audiences, and reading the pieces not as a form of division – but as a positive and usable tool that brings others together.

This session features artworks from the Government Art Collection. As well as contributions from the GAC’s Curator of Public Engagement, Chantal Condron, we will be applying art readings on class, to artworks, as practical examples. While each artwork holds significance as being part of a national collection, they also offer the potential of being incredibly emotive works with which to explore our arts practice.
https://fulcrm.link/2/15508/2712/9279lf5rcr3r723m17cc2llu0030488l

The National Archives: Archives supporting environmental sustainability 
8 and 10 November | Online  
Join TNA for an opportunity to be part of the sustainability conversation and reflect on climate change as COP26 – the world's most important climate change conference – takes place this November in Glasgow. Come hear about the past, present and future of environmental sustainability in the archives sector, share your ideas for change and take away tools to create a positive impact in your organisation. This event will take place over two mornings (Monday 8 November and Wednesday 10 November) and we encourage participation on both days. 
https://fulcrm.link/2/15510/2712/36l9967788922920ul6u9fc0l3fu343l

The auction catalogue for the sale of 251 lots of books, watercolours and photographic equipment from the estate of Eric Hosking is now available on the Tennants website. 

Eric Hosking OBE Hon. FRPS FBIPP (1909-1991) is a name which will require little introduction for ornithology enthusiasts. The first professional bird photographer, he photographed over 1,800 species, and his pictures have appeared in some 1,000 books, including the popular New Naturalist series, of which he was photographic editor. To complement his library, Eric Hosking also built a fine collection of pictures by leading 20th century wildlife artists including Archibald Thorburn, Keith Shackleton and C. F. Tunnicliffe. The sale of his photographic equipment provides an unmissable opportunity to own a remarkable array of high-quality cameras, lenses and other apparatus by manufacturers including Contarex, Hasselblad and Zeiss.

Books, Maps & Manuscripts including The Library, Cameras and Picture Collection of Eric Hosking
24 November 2021 10:30 GMT
The Auction Centre, Leyburn
See: https://auctions.tennants.co.uk/auction/details/bk180-books-maps--manuscripts-including-the-library-cameras-and-picture-collection-of-eric-hosking/?au=13900

In this special event, which accompanies the exhibition Line and Texture: the photography of Nancy Sheung, currently on show at St Hugh’s College as part of the Photo Oxford Festival, and featured in The Guardian, an expert panel will consider the work of pioneering Hong Kong photographer Nancy Sheung FRPS within the broader contexts of Chinese and Western photography.

The event will open with a drinks reception at 5.30pm, followed by the panel discussion between 6pm and 7.30pm.

The panel will be chaired by Shelagh Vainker (St Hugh’s College), Curator of Chinese Art at the Ashmolean Museum, and Associate Professor of Chinese Art in the Faculty of Oriental Studies. The panellists are:

• Tiffany Wai-Ying Beres, granddaughter of Nancy Sheung, who will discuss aspects of the artist’s life.
• Adrian Bradshaw, photojournalist specialising in the photography of China, who will contextualise Nancy Sheung’s photography within that of China and Hong Kong from the late 1950s.
• Michael Pritchard, exhibition curator, Director of Programmes at the Royal Photographic Society, and photo-historian, who will discuss the artist’s work within that of the RPS from the 1950s-1970s.

The event will be held in person in the Mordan Hall at St Hugh’s College, Oxford, and recorded.

Book here: https://www.st-hughs.ox.ac.uk/events/the-photography-of-nancy-sheung-a-panel-discussion/

Image: Nancy Sheung, The Pigtail, 1966, silver gelatin print. Courtesy: Estate of Nancy Sheung

The National galleries Scotland will be showing a specially recorded conversation between internationally acclaimed photographer Thomas Joshua Cooper and Chief Curator of Photography, Anne Lyden. They will discuss the making and ideas behind his extraordinary photographs made at the most extreme points and locations surrounding the Atlantic Ocean. The conversation will be followed by a live Q&A.

The talk supports the exhibition: Thomas Joshua Cooper | The World's Edge which runs until 23 January 2022. 

https://www.nationalgalleries.org/event/worlds-edge-thomas-joshua-cooper-conversation

The National Archives at Kew has announced the release of the 1922 Census for England and Wales on 6 January 2022. Preparing the 1921 Census for online publication is the largest project ever completed by The National Archives and Findmypast, consisting of more than 30,000 bound volumes of original documents, stored on 1.6 linear kilometres of shelving. The 1921 census is of particular value as it will be the last census release for England and Wales for 30 years, with the 1931 Census lost in a fire and the 1941 Census never taken.

The census will be released online by Findmypast and will be charged at £2.50 for every record transcript and £3.50 for every original record image. . There is already disquiet at the cost from researchers for what are public records. which is justified as covering the cost of digitising and transcribing the 18,235,242 images created from the records. It is expected that they will be free to consult at the National Archives in Kew. 

See:

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/news/1921-census-online-publication-date-announced/

https://www.findmypast.co.uk/1921-census

The National Science and Media Museum, Bradford new Sound and Vision galleries development is underway .A tender has been issued for to the value of £430,000 by the Science Museum Group for a team to develop the gallery designs for Sound and Vision. The design team must include the lead spatial designer, graphic designer and lighting designer, structural, acoustic and Mechanical Engineering design specialists. The work will include architectural base build and exhibition design. This lead consultant will be responsible for co-ordinating all disciplines involved in the design.

Separately, the museum is recruit a part-time Project Coordinator to support the project. 

The museum recently secured a National Heritage Lottery Fund first pass grant of £318,963 for the development phase of the project. 

The ‘galleries will include collections of photography, radio, film, TV, sound and digital technologies, and has been created in consultation with local communities. Jo Quinton-Tulloch, Director of the National Science and Media Museum, said its aim was to “realise the Science Museum Group’s mission of making STEM education open for all”. She added, “[they] will explore the relevance and impact of image and audio technology throughout history, connecting the museum’s collections not only to this global communications age, but also directly to our home city.”

For the tender: https://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/tenders/view/1236

For the role see: https://bit.ly/3mp5lCr 

The Reece Winstone Archive is searching for 400 lantern slides taken by Kuner of Bristol, which formed the basis of lectures he gave throughout the west, on historic and natural subjects, as far away as Cornwall, the Rivers Wye, Somerset Chew etc.- he was a keen cyclist and one-time secretary of Bristol Photographic Society. 

The slides were of sufficient interest to become the Kuner Memorial slides and were added to the BPS permanent collection after his death in 1923. We now know they were not lost when the BPS rooms were destroyed in the blitz and were brought to Reece 'to sort' by William J Foster ARPS, acting either for himself, the BPS, WCPF or PAGB, in 1954. Reece may have been gifted 28 duplicate slides, including hand-coloured ones for his own collection, although they were not added to his accession list in common with other gifts of slides from colleagues. He preserved Kuner's printed labels of lectures stuck on broken slide box lids, whilst renewing the slide boxes. These slides have now been digitised.

Foster was well known to Reece and had attended one of his 1931 rambles to Wells organised for the BPS (left)  All efforts to locate the glass slides have drawn a blank in local, club, national and archived collections, leaving only private collections unchecked. Foster lived latterly at 63 Ashley Hill, Bristol and had run a successful builders merchants of the same name, originally sited adjacent the Bristol River Frome which had been the subject of a source-to-mouth ramble by Kuner, repeated in reverse 50 years later by Reece for BPS. Foster died in 1966, aged 86 and a letter of 1980 from his great-grandson in the Archive written from Bedford says he gave away many photographs following his wife's death in the 1960s.

Holders of any Kuner's glass slides (usually not bearing his name, but spotted with title on top edge in black caps. - see photo of lecture labels) would be most welcome to partake in this digitising project. We may be able to identify Kuner slides by handwritten titles, if you are uncertain - please contact us at reecewinstonearchive@gmail.com.

Our search for 308 lantern slides by Reece covering the history of photographic clubs in the South-west found a successful conclusion in the WCPF's collection last year, held under the heading 'Fed(eration) Faces', and have now been digitised.

Grateful thanks to all involved in the search.

Images:

Top right: Kuner with moustache, on left, in the field.
Centre: Foster in light suit.

Photomonitor, the online photography platform, carries an interview with Tate Modern's Senior Curator International Art (Photography) Yasufumi Nakamori. He discusses Japanese photography and Tate Modern's strategy representing photography in its programmes. He was interviewed by Romina Provenzi. 

Read the full piece here: https://photomonitor.co.uk/interview/yasufumi-nakamori-in-conversation/

Since 2011, Photomonitor has been promoting photography and lens-based media, publishing images and texts from artists and writers around the world on its online platform. 

Image: Dan Dennehy, Minneapolis Institute of Art

Applications are open for Bodleian Visiting Fellowships which support scholars in any field of study and from anywhere in the world to undertake research in the Bodleian's special collections. Of particular interest to BPH is the Sloan Fellowship in Photography which supports a research visit by a scholar in the history of photography. In addition to the archive of William Henry Fox Talbot, the Bodleian holds photographs within nineteenth- and twentieth-century colonial missionary archives; archives of other photographers; photographically-illustrated books; and those within the papers of individuals, famous families or organisations.

Applications for Bodleian Visiting Fellowships will be accepted beginning Friday 1 October 2021, with a submission deadline of noon GMT on Tuesday 30 November 2021.

See more and apply here: https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/csb/fellowships/bodleian-visiting-fellowships

Dr Annebella Pollen has been awarded a £100,000 Philip Leverhulme Prize, which she will use to fund a new study into the history of photography by children from 1900. As a personal award rather than a research grant, the prize money can be used for any research purpose. Thirty prizes are awarded annually, to a changing group of six subject areas each year.

Dr Pollen, Director of the Centre for Design History, said: “I plan to use the fund to take extended research leave as well as to support the costs for a major new illustrated book and exhibition on photography by children from 1900 to the present. This draws on my long-standing interests in mass visual culture and its undervalued histories. To have two years to explore a substantial new area will be a huge privilege. I'm really looking forward to bringing to fruition ideas that I've been considering for some time but have not previously had the opportunity to pursue in depth."

Read more here: https://www.brighton.ac.uk/news/2021/university-of-brighton-academic-receives-prestigious-100000-prize

Under Newborn Stars tells the story of photographer Maja Blumenfeld - From her upbringing in Berlin to her escaping Nazi Germany and resettling in New Zealand. The film provides insight into her journey, her view on photography and the importance of objects connected to people and significant moments in her life.

Photographer Maja Blumenfeld’s collection of previously hidden and largely unpublished photographic negatives capture the faces, landscapes, architecture and lifestyles of interwar Berlin and mid-twentieth-century Auckland, New Zealand. The archive of glass plate and Kodak negatives resurfaced in 2014 still in its original packaging alongside handwritten notes. Maja’s granddaughter Roshannah Bagley has spent the last five years discovering the names and stories with Maja to preserve and eventually share with the world for the first time.

Born in Berlin in 1919, Maja trained as a photographer in her teens before being forced to flee Nazi Germany in 1938 with her family to Auckland, New Zealand. On arrival she took on a role at the local newspaper The Auckland Star as a photographer until her career was cut short due to the war. After moving back to Europe in the late sixties, she settled in London with her New Zealand husband and children in 1970. Now at age 102, Maja still lives an independent life in northwest London.

The film was shot in September 2020 at Maja’s home in North London and Kasia Wozniak’s photography studio in South London. It was created by Hedvig Ahlberg and Roshannah Bagley, and supported by Something™’s Pioneers initiative.

Roshannah is a multidisciplinary creative and curator. She spent a decade working in fashion before moving into advertising and the creative industries. She is currently a Studio Manager at Something™ and dedicates her spare time to curating and producing projects and events that champion underrepresented creatives. Hedvig is an independent director and editor with a focus on telling stories about women. She also works as a producer at Something™ where she has worked on a wide range of productions from short form to feature series and documentaries.

Link to film here.
English and German subtitles available.
Te Neo Māori subtitles will be available soon.
Download Trailer
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