Blogs

Considered one of the most important photo historians of the 20th century, Peter E. Palmquist (1936 - 2003) had a keen interest in the photography of the American West, California, and Humboldt County before 1950, and the history of women in photography worldwide. He published over 60 books and 340 articles and was a strong proponent of the concept of the independent researcher-writer in the field of photohistory. With co-author Thomas Kailbourn, he won the Caroline Bancroft Western History Prize for their book, Pioneer Photographers of the Far West. Professor Martha Sandweiss, Princeton University, wrote, “He (Peter) established new ways of pursuing the history of photography, and with his collections and research notes soon to be accessible at Yale, he will be speaking to and inspiring new generations of students and researchers forever.” Established by Peter’s lifetime companion, Pam Mendelsohn, this fund supports the study of under-researched women photographers internationally, past and present, and under-researched Western American photographers through the Great Depression. 

A small panel of outside consultants with professional expertise in the field of photohistory and/or grant reviewing will review the applications in order to determine the awards. Applications will be judged on the quality of the proposal, the ability of the applicant to carry out the project within the proposed budget and timeline, and the significance of the project to the field of photographic history. Each recipient of the award will agree to donate upon completion of the project a copy of the resulting work (i.e., published book, unpublished report, thesis, etc.) to the Humboldt Area Foundation to submit to the Peter Palmquist Archive at Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library and a report to Humboldt Area Foundation at the end of the grant period. We ask that award recipients acknowledge the financial assistance provided by the Palmquist Memorial Fund in publications or other work products supported by that fund.

Jerwood Arts and Photoworks are delighted to announce two major forthcoming commissions by Heather Agyepong and Joanne Coates, the awardees of the latest edition of the Jerwood/Photoworks Awards.  The exhibition takes place at the Jerwood Space, from 23 September until 10 December 2022.

Heather Agyepong is working on a commission that is deeply personal and universal at the same time. ego death is a project about self-discovery, imperfection, compassion, and radical acceptance. Meanwhile, Joanne Coates is building a body of work,  The Lie of the Land,   addressing the erasure of contemporary working-class histories and culture in the countryside, particularly interrogating notions of rurality and women, and the perceived stigma associated with them.

Now in their fourth edition, the Jerwood/Photoworks Awards are a major commissioning opportunity supporting early-career artists working with photography to make ambitious new work and significantly develop their practice at a pivotal moment in their career. 

*************

For the Jerwood/Photoworks Awards, London-based Heather Agyepong has developed ego death, a project inspired by psychiatrist Carl Jung’s concept of ‘The Shadow’. According to Jung, the shadow is composed of aspects of one’s personality deemed inappropriate, that have been shamed and repressed, generally during childhood and adolescence, by family, education, social norms and other external factors. Jung argues that these authentic attributes evolve into specific behavioural patterns in adulthood that attempt to overcompensate for the undesirable qualities, making one more socially integrated and accepted. In ego death, Agyepong has been on a journey to discover and explore her own shadow; confronting, and making peace with it through this body of work. 

Exploring techniques including free writing and freepainting, observation, and self reflection, Agyepong has identified seven different characters that she confronts in the ego death series: The O Daughter, The Saboteur, D is for…, Georgina, Lot’s Wife, Only Pino and Somebody Stop Me. In an immersive installation comprising photographs, fabric, sound and text, she creates an arresting visual language using double exposure to reveal how her shadow characters show up unconsciously in the world. Inspired by Tarell Alvin McCraney’s play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue, Agyepong instinctively chooses to use blue hues as the colour palette for her self-portraits, symbolising the state of vulnerability and deep truth telling she put herself through in creating ego death. 

Yorkshire-based Photographer Joanne Coates has created The Lie of the Land, a body of work that explores the social history of the land and narrates a story of gender and class that has long been forgotten - or simply never told -  in relation to the countryside of the North East. Coates works at the intersection of socially-engaged practice and traditional British documentary photography, fusing them together in a creative visual language that combines landscape, portraits, still image, and non-photographic elements such as sound. For this commission, Coates has collaborated with twelve women who identify as working class, living and working in rural or agricultural settings, to develop a series of portraits that represent their individual lived experience. Using ‘the wander’ or stroll as a meditative tool and a notebook as the holder of daily reflections, they also reflect on the changes happening in the rural areas, particularly with the new arrivals of wealthy people, and how this invisibilises the work of those in charge of sustaining life in the rural areas, creating and disseminating a distorted version of what life in the countryside really is. 

The characters in The Lie of the Land are real people, yet they have been excluded from a mainstream portrayal of the countryside. Through this commission Coates navigates her own personal stories whilst working with communities that she is a part of in the rural North East of England - seeing the work as an exploration of unresolved questions, and a process of connections.   

The resulting photographs will be displayed at a variety of scales, including portraits of the women Coates has worked with, alongside landscape photographs of the hunting moors. A new sound piece accompanies a short film, focusing on close-up shots of women’s hands in domestic and manual labour – moments of work on the farms. Diary entries reflect on the changes happening in rural areas and a full-size wooden grouse-butt typically constructed to be used on shooting trips gives a subtle notion of the political and class disputes in rural land.

The accompanying catalogue designed by graphic designer and artist Rose Nordin includes essays from cultural theorist and critic Nathalie Olah and curator, researcher and writer Pelumi Odubanjo. Through autumn 2022 Jerwood Space will host a public programme that draws out key critical themes in the exhibition, enabling new ways of experiencing the commissions and hearing from the artists themselves.

The two artists were chosen by a panel, made up of Christine Eyene (Lecturer in Contemporary Art at Liverpool John Moores University and Research Curator at Tate Liverpool), Joy Gregory (artist), Sunil Gupta (photographer), Julia Bunnemann (Curator, Photoworks) and Harriet Cooper (Head of Visual Arts, Jerwood Arts). During selection, the panel were unanimously impressed by both artists’ powerful proposals which address important current issues while representing a pivotal opportunity for experimentation and development for both artists' own photographic practice. Applicants were long listed prior to the final panel meeting by staff from Photoworks and Jerwood Arts, along with members of ReFramed, a Midlands-based network for Black, Asian and other people of colour interested in producing photographic visual art.  Both artists received a £15,000 award (comprising £10,000 fee and £5,000 production budget) with a support package from Photoworks and Jerwood Arts to create new work over a 12-month period. 

Previous recipients of the Jerwood/Photoworks Award include: Silvia Rosi, Theo Simpson, Alejandra Carles-Tolra, Sam Laughlin, Lua Ribeira, Matthew Finn, Joanna Piotrowska and Tereza Zelenkova.

The Jerwood/Photoworks Awards are a collaboration between Jerwood Arts and Photoworks, supported by Spectrum Photographic.  

#JPA 

@photoworks_uk 

@Jerwoodarts

@spectrumlab

@aceagrams

ABOUT THE ARTISTS 

Heather Agyepong is a visual artist, performer/actor and maker who lives and works in London. Her art practice is concerned with mental health and wellbeing, invisibility, the diaspora and the archive. Agyepong uses both lens-based practices and performance with an aim to culminate a cathartic experience for both herself and the viewer. She adopts the technique of re-imagination to engage with communities of interest and the self as a central focus within the image.  

Agyepong has worked within photographic and performance arts since 2009 with a range of works that have been published, performed and exhibited around the UK and internationally.  She has been nominated for Prix Pictet & Paul Huf Award in 2016, 2018 and 2021. Her work exists in a number of collections including Autograph ABP, Centre national des arts plastiques, Hyman Collection, New Orleans Museum of Art, Bristol Museum & Art Gallery and Mead Art Museum. She has been commissioned by a number of organisations including the Mayor of London, Photoworks, Artichoke and Tate Exchange. In her television/film and theatre work, Agyepong is drawn to challenging and compelling writing with an intrigue for unique voices. She has previously been an associate artist of black led theatre company Talawa and continues to perform both nationally and internationally.  Agyepong was nominated for the South Bank Sky Arts Breakthrough Award 2018, awarded the Firecracker Photographic Grant 2020, was selected as part of Foam Talent and The Photographers Gallery New Talent Award in 2021, and was awarded the Photo London x Nikon Emerging Photographer Award 2021.

Joanne Coates is a working-class photographer born and based in North Yorkshire. Working across the North of England, Coates explores rurality, social histories of class, and inequalities relating to low income through photography, installations and audio. Coates was educated at The London College of Communication (BA Hons Photography). Her practice revolves around process, participation, and working with communities. She is interested in questioning stories around power, identity, wealth and poverty.  

In 2020 Coates was commissioned as artist in residence at The Maltings and Newcastle University where she developed Daughters of the Soil, exhibited at The Maltings and at Vane Gallery in 2022. In 2017, she was one of the artists working in Hull for the UK City of Culture. In 2016, she was awarded the Magenta Flash Forward Top 30 emerging talent in the UK, and in 2012, during her Foundation year, she was awarded a Metro Imaging Portfolio Prize, a Magnum Portfolio Review and The Ideastap innovators award.  

Jerwood Arts

Jerwood Arts is the leading independent funder dedicated to supporting early-career UK artists, curators and producers to develop and thrive. We enable transformative opportunities for individuals across art forms, supporting imaginative awards, bursaries, fellowships, projects, programmes and commissions. We are committed to supporting artistic freedom of expression and being as inclusive as possible across all our work. We present new work and bring people from across the arts together through our exhibitions and events at Jerwood Space, London, as well as across the UK and online. 

Photoworks

Photoworks champions photography for everyone. We are an international platform, global in reach, and have provided opportunities for artists and audiences since 1995. We do not have a physical venue, but our online channels are always open. Our programme brings new experiences to audiences and opens up new ways to encounter photography.

Photoworks is a registered charity and the only organisation with a national remit for photography in England. Our work is supported by public funding through Arts Council England’s National Portfolio. Photoworks is led by Shoair Mavlian, Director.

Spectrum Photographic

Spectrum is a longstanding professional imaging lab specialising in high quality fine art and photographic printing, as well as archival mounting. They are proud of the reputation that they have established for themselves and are known for their high quality, passion, and above all, excellent service to their customers.

We are really appreciating the feedback and compliments we are receiving for those who have signed up for our online course, Causes of Degradation of Photographic Materials, please be assured we will endeavour to respond to each one. In the interim if you haven’t already done so please sign up for our Newsletter     www.conservephotography.com   which will keep you informed about updates and any future courses as they develop.

The Centre’s collections are made up of images not selected because they are dramatic or artistic or beautiful, though many are, but because they tell us so much about the processes, materials and physical make up of this most vulnerable socio-historic heritage material, which also helps us to understand their long term needs and preservation.

Many of the images we have acquired over the last fourty-nine years we have used in The Centre’s, in person, professional development courses and also to illustrate the over 36 episodes, including work studies and examples, of our online course, which focuses in detail on the Causes of Degradation of Photographic Materials that impacts not only the identification of historic photographs, but also, their preservation and conservation. To see the course video and find out more details visit:     

www.conservephotography.com

This October, a Victorian daylight photographic portrait studio in Hastings forgotten for over a hundred years, will re-open for one month only. Visitors will be invited to sit for portraits or to make selfies. Pets and props welcome.

The Memorial Studio is a rare survival. More than a thousand photographic portrait studios were established in the UK between 1839 and 1901. Fewer than two dozen are known to remain. Purpose built in 1864, The Memorial Studio was an attraction in Hastings for 54 years until 1918, then disappeared for 104 years. Among many other things it became storage for British Telecom, an insurance company office and a workshop making orthopaedic supports.

In 2012, artist Beatrice Lacey took it over as her studio and removed the false ceiling that had long concealed the North skylight. In 2022 Beatrice invited photographers Alexander Brattell and Toby Shaw to collaborate in exploring, reviving and celebrating this exquisite space.

Visitors will be invited to become part of The Memorial Studio Project, a portrait record for future exhibition and publication. Toby Shaw and guest photographers will offer free individual and group sittings, to include a still or moving image file. Visitors will also be invited to contribute their own portraits and selfies made in the studio.

A changing exhibition in the studio’s waiting room will showcase The Memorial Studio’s activities and history, just as it did in the nineteenth century. The visit to the photographer’s studio, a formal and intimate moment of recording presence and identity for posterity in a way that also connects us with our past, is now in danger of becoming forgotten as a participatory event. An experiment with time, The Memorial Studio Project is inspired by the conditions of the past to record the present, creating memories for the future

 The Memorial Studio

12-5, Fridays to Sundays throughout October 2022. Free entry. 7 Cambridge Road, Hastings, East Sussex TN34 1DJ.

We apologise for no disabled access, there are three flights of stairs (originally the trade entrance. The main entrance in Robertson St no longer survives).

For further information see Photolacey.com

instagram @thememorialstudio2022 

Facebook The Memorial Studio 2022 

Contacts:

Beatrice Lacey: bea@laceyfineart.com / 07775 734874

Toby Shaw: tobyshaw.co.uk

Alex Brattell: alex@brattell.com (for hires images) / 07767 611388

On Monday 3rd October at 8pm there will be an informal lecture in Hastings on Victorian portraiture and The Memorial Studio. See photology.info

Part of PhotoHastings 2022. photohastings.org

Photography scholar Tomáš Dvořák will be Visiting Fellow at Trinity while he takes up the role of Sloan Fellow of Photography at the Bodleian Library. The Sloan Fellowship supports a research visit by a scholar in the history of photography.

Tomáš Dvořák is an assistant professor in the Department of Photography at FAMU in Prague and a research associate at the Institute of Philosophy, Czech Academy of Sciences. His research focuses on philosophy and history of media and philosophy and history of science and the interrelations of these fields, especially media archaeology of science and knowledge. He recently edited, with Jussi Parikka, Photography Off the Scale: Theories and Technologies of the Mass Image (Edinburgh University Press 2021). 

His research at the Bodleian libraries will focus on the publishing history of William Henry Fox Talbot’s Pencil of Nature and the relationships between photography and the aesthetics of the picturesque.

See: https://www.trinity.ox.ac.uk/news/visiting-fellowship-photography-scholar-and-sloan-fellow

Edinburgh auction house Lyon and Turnbull is offering a newly discovered album of salt prints from calotype negatives, c.1846-8 containing 117 photographic salt prints from calotype negatives. The album and associated material has come via a family descendent of Kinnear. 

C G H Kinnear (1830-1894) was a founder member of the Photographic Society of Scotland in 1856, and in the same year entered into partnership with Edinburgh architect John Dick Peddie. In 1857 he went on an architectural and photographic tour of northern France using a new form of camera with a conical bellows which 'set the pattern for nearly all subsequent cameras' and was described in the Photographic Journal and press of the period. 

Separately, the auction also includes a copy of the Art Union from 1846 and other photographs.

Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs
Lyon and Turnbull, Edinburgh
28 September 2022
lot 60. See the full lot description here. 

UPDATE: sold for £68,000 (hammer price). 

This new book looks at the history of the pinhole camera. Traditionally the pinhole camera has been linked with the camera obscura, but this publication sets out to separate the two, to appreciate and understand both from their respective evolution as technical objects and from their creative potential.

The book's author, Denis Bernard, is a researcher, photographer and teacher of the history of photography and Associate in Applied Arts.

Sténopés. Histoire et théorie d’une machine naturelle
[Pinholes. History and theory of a natural machine]
Denis Bernard
Éditions Mimésis Collection Images, Médiums
ISBN 978-8869763410
€22.00, 302 pages
Order from: http://www.editionsmimesis.fr/catalogue/stenopes/

Impressions Gallery is a charity that helps people understand the world through photography and acts as an agent for change. Established 50 years ago in 1972, we have grown to become one of the UK’s leading centres for photography.

We are seeking to appoint a Curator to work as part of our small and dedicated team in Bradford.

The Curator will manage our exhibitions and contribute ideas to the future programme, with opportunities to curate and lead on exhibitions that champion high-quality, risk-taking photography that is accessible to all. Other duties include management of our touring exhibitions, developing partnerships, implementing press and marketing systems, supporting our learning and engagement work, and assisting with the charity’s fundraising aims.

The successful applicant will join us at an exciting time; Bradford is UK City of Culture 2025. This is a game-changer, putting the city firmly on the national and international stage. Impressions continues to be a key partner and the successful candidate will play an active role in shaping our programme for Bradford 2025.

We are looking for a professional, ambitious individual with strong project management skills, who is able to balance multiple priorities. Applicants must have relevant photographic knowledge and experience of working within a professional visual arts environment.

We believe this role is an exceptional opportunity for someone with the right mix of experience, enthusiasm and initiative. The role is perfect for someone looking to take their career to the next level.

The salary for this role is £27,000 to £30,000 p.a. dependent on experience.

If required, reasonable relocation costs will be available for the successful candidate.

For more information and how to apply download our Application Pack.

Closing date: Monday 10 October 2022 at midday.

You will receive an email to confirm receipt of your application.

Interviews will be held Thursday 20 October 2022 via Zoom.

Final stage candidates will be invited to a further in-person interview at Impressions Gallery in the week commencing 24 October 2022.

See: https://www.impressions-gallery.com/opportunity/curator/

Michael Kurtz who undertook a summer placement with Four Corners in July 2022, as part of its ongoing collaboration with Birkbeck, University of London, has written a blog piece about the Half Moon photography workshop's touring exhibitions. The blog begins: In 1976, the recently established Half Moon Photography Workshop developed an innovative new form of photography exhibition, with radical implications for the accessibility of alternative photographic work nationwide. Rather than framing and glazing prints, as had been standard practice, members of the workshop began assembling images and text on card panels which were then laminated in plastic and hung from eyelets...

Read the full piece here: https://www.fourcornersfilm.co.uk/blog/an-introduction-to-the-half-moon-photography-workshop-s-laminated-touring-exhibitions

The latest issue of British Art Studies carries two papers of interest to photo-historians. As noted earlier Luke Gartlan's 'Inventing Provinciality: St Andrews and the Global Networks of Early Victorian Photography' which examines the advent of photography in the Scottish university town of St Andrews in the context of local ties to the British Empire.

The second paper is Margaret J. Schmitz's  'Capturing Futurity: The Artistic Exchange of Alvin Langdon Coburn and H. G. Wells'  which demonstrates that Coburn’s experimentation with radical aesthetics began before 1910 and was instigated by his friendship with English science fiction writer, Wells. 

Both are available free of charge here: https://britishartstudies.ac.uk/issues/issue-index/issue-23

This new book examines the role of photography and visual culture in the emergence of ecological science between 1895 and 1939. It is about photography and the origins of ecology - about the practice of ecology as visual science. Picturing Ecology explores the contribution of visual experience and practice to scientific knowledge. It aims, in particular, to demonstrate the critical role played by photography in mediating and configuring new forms of knowledge emerging from ecology in the early twentieth century.

It concentrates mostly on the story of early British ecology, it recreates the field practices and social contexts of ecological science as a discipline carried out in excursions, public meetings, international gatherings and publications. Visual culture, and especially photography, is explored as central to all these discursive spaces. The study is underpinned by substantial research in a number of archives.

Picturing Ecology. Photography and the birth of a new science
Damian Hughes
Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN: 978-981-19-2515-3
£109.99 (hardcover) or £87.50 (epub)
Details here

The article "Inventing Provinciality: St Andrews and the Global Networks of Early Victorian Photography" is now available open access with the online journal British Art Studies. I've attached the direct link for interested members. 

https://www.britishartstudies.ac.uk/issues/issue-index/issue-23/st-andrews-and-the-global-networks-of-early-victorian-photography

This is part of my current ongoing research on St Andrews and Fife family albums of Victorian Britain -- primarily in the 1840s for this article -- and their local, national, and international connections.

I hope this might interest some members, especially those with an interest in regional small-town and rural photographic archives and their histories.  

This blog is to remind you not to throw out old photographs you may have lying around. About a year ago I was sorting through my old Kodachromes, especially those I took when backpacking in Europe in 1957/58.

They were taken on the original 35mm, 10 ASA (ISO) Kodachrome that was not only slow but also a bit contrasty.

The attached photograph is of the first Aldermaston Rally in Trafalgar Square on Easter Sunday 1958.   The rally preceded the march to Aldermaston. I had no particular reason to go to the rally and just happened to be there at the time.

I contacted the Museum of London who were interested in the image and asked me if I would send them an ink-jet print of it, which I did.

The Museum’s curator of photographs (Jilke Golbach) later said

"While our collection holds a substantial number of photographs depicting political gatherings and protests in the 1950s and 1960s they are without exception black-and-white.  It is unusual to see a colour photograph of this event, and this striking image — taken by a then 19-year-old Australian backpacker — will undoubtedly have an impact on contemporary museum visitors."

1.%20Aldermaston%2013%20x%2018.JPG

University of the Arts has published a blog post looking at the work being undertaken by Brigitte Lardinois and the Photography and Archive Research Centre (PARC) based at UAL on the Edward Reeves Archive in Lewis, East Sussex. This is home to the world’s oldest photographic studio — Edward Reeves Photography. Still active and operated by direct descendants of the founder, four generations of Reeves photographers have encapsulated the stories of the inhabitants of this English market town since its establishment in 1855. The current owner, Tom Reeves, now runs the Studio, still located on Lewes' High Street, with his wife Tania Osband. Together, they continue to add to its legacy.

Reda the full blog here: https://www.arts.ac.uk/knowledge-exchange/stories/inside-the-edward-reeves-archive-in-lewes

Impressions Gallery is hosting a seminar alongside its exhibition Invisible Britain: This separated Isle. Why does photography have a duty to ethically represent people from marginalised communities? How can photographs change stereotypical media narratives around class, and in particular working class identity? Is socially engaged photography the key to producing authentic and trustworthy visual representations of people and communities?

Join photographers Amara Eno, Ciara Leeming, Joanne Coates and filmmaker and curator Paul Sng for a lively and informative discussion. 

Invisible Britain: Photography & Representation
Saturday 8 October 2022, 1400-1530 (BST)
Tickets are ‘pay what you can afford,’ suggested donation of £3 or £5
Book: https://www.impressions-gallery.com/event/invisible-britain-photography-representation/

Katherine Howells at The National Archives has written a blog post on photography in India. She starts: In the second half of the 19th century, photography began to flourish in many areas of the world, including India. New photographic societies were established and amateur and professional photographers, both Indian and British, began to expand their activities and set up photographic studios.

With the 1862 Fine Arts Copyright Act, photographers and studios were able to secure copyright protection for their photographs in the United Kingdom. Photographers working in India took advantage of this opportunity, particularly when they intended to sell photographs abroad. The copyright records we hold at The National Archives therefore provide us with a small window into the photographic industries flourishing in India in the late 19th century and early 20th century.

Marking South Asian Heritage month, this blog explores how commercial photography took off in India in the 19th century and highlights photographers appearing in the copyright collection who were part of this story.

Read the full blog post here: https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/early-photography-in-india-tracing-photographers-through-copyright-records/

Heritage Open Days taking place across British from 9-18 September 2022 include events relating to photography. The RPS is throwing open its building and holding a series of events around its own history;  Reading's role in the history of photography is explored, and Derby's W W Winter studio will be opening. 

Separately, the RPS is also running an Anthotype workshop on 17 September. Details here.

Take a look at these events and search for others here

The RPS events can be booked here: 

An enquirer is seeking information on the photographer Ted Reed, who did publicity stills for the 1955 Laurence Olivier film Richard III. Does anyone know anything about him or his studio? Two of his portraits from the 1940s are in the National Portrait Gallery collection.

Please respond here or message directly. 

Dr Grant Scott has announced that 12 August will be the first Bill Jay Day. Look out for articles, photographs and more to celebrate a remarkable man. 

#BillJayDay