Back in May (Monday the 18th to be precise - it seems so long ago now) I visited 4 exhibitions, and wrote my thoughts down on a scrap of paper. Having now retrieved said paper, I have decided to scribble my musings down here (for want of not losing it again). The exhibitions that I went to visit were:
1. Once More With Feeling at The Photographer's Gallery, featuring the Columbian photographers: Milena Bonilla, Maria Elvira Escallon, Juan Pablo Echeverri, Juan Manuel Echavarria, Oscar Munoz and Maria Isabel Rueda.
2. Yousuf Karsh portraits at the National Portrait Gallery.
3. Modern Muses by Bryan Adams at the National Portrait Gallery.
4. Shutting Up Shop by John Londei at the National Portrait Gallery.
Londei's images were my favourite of the exhibitions that I saw, not just because of the timescale within which he worked (over 15 years) but because the images seemed to resonate with me more. It felt like he had captured a piece of my own history - albeit a 'distorted' memory - and transfixed it. He has captured a sign of the times with the dominance of the supermarket and shopping malls taking over the local shop. It's interesting, however, that many people I know are now 'fighting back', and are becoming more self-sufficient; the increasing demand for allotments are testament to this.
Karsh's and Adams's portraits were simply stunning and have inspired me to return to a photographic project that I started some years ago, taking portraits of my family. However, I am a great advocate of natural light, so the challenge is really to create the same effect, in terms of aura and power, as Karsh and Adams but without the use of artificial light. A challenge indeed!
I was quite unsure of how I felt about the Columbian exhibition. Whilst I think the ideas are quite unique and have a sound artistic basis, I was not enamoured with the images themselves. They did not inspire anything within me. I think the reason I like photojournalism so much is because of its purpose; its need to tell a story. Whilst the Columbian images are themselves telling their own story, they are much too subtle and 'hidden' - I don't mind working hard to read an image, but I suppose I like the story to want to surface more readily.
