Mayor of London Opens Photo London – Most Important New Art Fair in London for a Decade
Over 70 galleries from all parts of the world will participate in the first Photo London opening to the public at Somerset House on Thursday 21 May 2015.
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, will officially open Photo London at an evening reception attended by some of the world’s leading international photographers and galleries on Wednesday 20 May.
“At a time when so many of us are using our smartphones to capture images of the people and sights around us, we shouldn’t forget photography’s significance as an important and longstanding art form. Photo London is an exciting addition to the capital’s art and design festivals that draw visitors from across the UK and around the world.” Mayor of London, Boris Johnson
Photo London breaks new ground for London as a world centre for photography, sparking a city-wide photo week, and attracting the world’s leading photographers and galleries to London.
The full range of photography from rare historic prints to work by the youngest and most exciting talent in the field will be on view at Photo London, with a special focus on the work of London photographers, at prices ranging from £600 to £700,000.
Among the well-known names featured are Nobuyoshi Araki, Diane Arbus, David Bailey, Bill Brandt, Matthew Brandt, Henri Cartier Bresson, Thomas Demand, Patrick Demarchelier, Susan Derges, William Eggleston, Mitch Epstein, Elliott Erwitt, Elger Esser, Horst P Horst, Tom Hunter, Nadav Kander, Yousef Karsh, Rinko Kawauchi, André Kertész, Karen Knorr, Gustave Le Gray, Anne Leibovitz, Robert Longo, Daido Moriyama, Vik Muniz, Martin Parr, Rankin, Man Ray, Aleksandr Rodchenko, Herb Ritts, Paolo Roversi, Thomas Ruff, Sebastião Salgado, Alfred Stieglitz, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Henry Fox Talbot and Andy Warhol.
Photo London has commissioned five exhibitions at Somerset House. Beneath the Surface, some 200 rarely-shown photographic works from the Victoria and Albert Museum’s Photographs Collection; previously unseen large-format platinum prints from Sebastião Salgado’s Genesis series; the first UK exhibition of Iranian photographer Kāveh Golestān’s Prostitute series; The Teaser, a public lightbox installation to be shown in the courtyard produced by Rut Blees Luxemburg in collaboration with Alexander García Düttmann and Nuno Salgado, and Sohei Nishino’s Diorama Map London, a new Goliga edition of the photographers Cities series.
Curzon Cinema Chelsea will also screen Sebastião Salgado’s Salt of the Earth to coincide with the presentation on 23 May of the first Photo London Master of Photography Award to Salgado and an exhibition of his work at Somerset House.
An award, supported by the John Kobal Foundation, will be given to the most outstanding emerging photographer to be shown at Photo London. The winner receives a two month residency in New York with Residency Unlimited. Photo London also hosts the Magnum 30/30 award.
Over 50 international photographers and curators have come to London to participate in the talks programme for Photo London, curated by Professor Francis Hodgson, throughout the week. The National Portrait Gallery will host lectures by Todd Hido and Stephen Shore. Steve McCurry discusses the communities portrayed in his new book In These Hands: A Journey Along the Coffee Trail at King’s College and the Courtauld hosts Simon Schama on Portraiture.
The Deadhouse space beneath the courtyard will host four evening events in which music photography is matched to live DJ sets. This programme will include collaborations with YoYo, Just Jam and Rinse FM with imagery from Beth Lesser and disco photographer Bill Bernstein.
In addition to its special exhibition Beneath The Surface, the V&A will present American Power, a photography and music collaboration between the celebrated American photographer Mitch Epstein and cellist Erik Friedlander. Tate Modern are hosting the first London edition of Offprint, a photobook fair, which include events and workshops curated by Self Publish, Be Happy founder Bruno Ceschel. Highlights include a photographic tattoo parlour by Thomas Mailaender and Selfie Stick Aerobic by artist Byström.
The arrival of Photo London has been the catalyst for a number of unofficial Fairs and Group shows – reflecting the new found vibrancy of London’s photography scene. The London Photographs show will be at Temple Place and further off site, Seen Fifteen presents a four day exhibition of over 150 contemporary photographic and video works by French collective, Agence MYOP, staged within the dramatic stripped-out shell of two derelict Victorian terraced houses in Peckham.
All three major auction houses hold their photographic sales in London this week. Christie’s’ online only auction runs through 21 May. Phillips’ Photographs sale takes place on 21 May at 4PM and Sotheby’s’ sale takes place on 23 May at 2PM.
Image – Untitled – Prostitute series 1975-1977 – ©Kaveh Golestan Estate
Joanne Carter
Joanne Carter, creator of the world’s most popular mobile photography and art website— TheAppWhisperer.com— TheAppWhisperer platform has been a pivotal cyberspace for mobile artists of all abilities to learn about, to explore, to celebrate and to share mobile artworks. Joanne’s compassion, inclusivity, and humility are hallmarks in all that she does, and is particularly evident in the platform she has built. In her words, “We all have the potential to remove ourselves from the centre of any circle and to expand a sphere of compassion outward; to include everyone interested in mobile art, ensuring every artist is within reach”, she has said. Promotion of mobile artists and the art form as a primary medium in today’s art world, has become her life’s focus. She has presented lectures bolstering mobile artists and their art from as far away as the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea to closer to her home in the UK at Focus on Imaging. Her experience as a jurist for mobile art competitions includes: Portugal, Canada, US, S Korea, UK and Italy. And her travels pioneering the breadth of mobile art includes key events in: Frankfurt, Naples, Amalfi Coast, Paris, Brazil, London. Pioneering the world’s first mobile art online gallery - TheAppWhispererPrintSales.com has extended her reach even further, shipping from London, UK to clients in the US, Europe and The Far East to a global group of collectors looking for exclusive art to hang in their homes and offices. The online gallery specialises in prints for discerning collectors of unique, previously unseen signed limited edition art. Her journey towards becoming The App Whisperer, includes (but is not limited to) working for a paparazzi photo agency for several years and as a deputy editor for a photo print magazine. Her own freelance photographic journalistic work is also widely acclaimed. She has been published extensively both within the UK and the US in national and international titles. These include The Times, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, Popular Photography & Imaging, dpreview, NikonPro, Which? and more recently with the BBC as a Contributor, Columnist at Vogue Italia and Contributing Editor at LensCulture. Her professional photography has also been widely exhibited throughout Europe, including Italy, Portugal and the UK. She is currently writing several books, all related to mobile art and is always open to requests for new commissions for either writing or photography projects or a combination of both. Please contact her at: [email protected]
