AS BREATHING LONDON DRAWS TO A CLOSE, PREPARATIONS ARE UNDERWAY FOR LONDON’S NEXT MAJOR INITIATIVE.
LIVING LONDON – SUCCESSFUL BOOK LAUNCH AND EXHIBITION.
ROYAL PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY
LONDON
CAPITAL INTEREST
Photo ©Karen Knorr
APRIL/MAY 2017 / VOLUME 3 / NUMBER 2 / WW.RPS.ORG
INTERVIEW WITH KAREN KNORR PHOTOGRAPHER OF DISTINCTION
IN THIS ISSUE Page 3
Interview with Karen Knorr by Del Barrett ARPS
Page 11
Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2017, Adrian McCarthy reports
Page 12
Judy Hicks LRPS reports on the launch of Living London
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Projects: Breathing London update, Photo London
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Two Blue Buckets Review
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Staircases: London member, Katie Boswell, shares her recent success in the International Photograher of the Year Awards.
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Dave's Diary: A nice cup of tea
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Useful links
London is buzzing with things photographic at the moment. As well as major exhibitions at the Tate (Wolfgang Tillmans), the Science Museum (Anderson & Low’s Voyages) and the Natural History Museum (Wildlife Photographer of the Year), there are any number of smaller shows around the capital (see Time Out for some recommendations). Then there are the shortlisted works for the Deutsche Börse Prize (The Photographers’ Gallery), the Sony World Photography Awards and Martin Parr exhibition (Somerset House), and great anticipation as London gears up for Photo London. If any RPS London members are planning an exhibition, do drop me a line (del.barrett@rps.org) and we’ll feature it either on the blog or in a future issue of Capital Interest. Del 2
Del Barrett ©Jonathan Taylor
Cover Image: The Queen's Room, Zanana Palace, Udaipur, 2011 © Karen Knorr
INTERVIEW WITH KAREN KNORR by Del Barrett ARPS All Images © Karen Knorr
Sikander’s Entrance, Chandra Mahal, Jaipur City Palace, Jaipur, 2013 Some years ago, I was mooching through a second-hand bookshop when I came across Marks of Distinction by Karen Knorr. It was so different from any other photography book I’d seen, that I was at once intrigued and impressed. I’ve been a fan ever since, so I was delighted when Karen agreed to fit an interview with Capital Interest into her frighteningly hectic schedule. Within minutes of talking to her, it becomes evident that Knorr’s practice is intellectually and intelligently informed. Her photography is rooted in critical theory and investigates questions of identity, class and gender, but the images are delightfully playful, which adds another dimension to her work. Add to this her trademark of pithy, astute texts and the results are images that can be read on so many different levels. 3
Her photographic journey began in the 1970s when she was living and studying in Paris. A gallery owner recognised her talent and exposed her work to other galleries. Knorr’s work sold giving her some financial freedom to embark on the photographic path of her choosing, namely being an independent photographer, rather than following in the family footsteps. Her mother had been a photo-journalist in the 1940s and 50s, a contemporary of some of the great female photographers, such as Lee Miller and Margaret Bourke-White, covering significant events such as the Nuremberg trials and the presidency of Eisenhower. And ironically, it was her mother’s change of profession that facilitated a major breakthrough in Knorr’s own career. Her parents emigrated to London and her mother turned away from photography to work for the Red Cross. She had set her heart on living in Belgravia. At the time (the late seventies), flats with very short leases and very smart addresses were not only available, but affordable; the Knorr family soon found itself residing in Lowndes Square. Knorr’s mother decorated the flat herself in a fusion of Laura Ashley and Georgian styles with great success. To the outside world, the Knorrs and their home were firmly in the same financial bracket as their SW1 neighbours. Knorr realised that there was very little photography about the rich, other than traditional formal portraits and a myriad of press photos supporting the burgeoning celebrity culture. She therefore started to fill this gap with a series of images that appeared to be the rich at home, but in actuality were the result of collaboratively staging friends and family. At this juncture, I have to confess a slight smidgeon of disappointment. Ever since I opened Marks of Distinction, I had imagined Karen trotting around Eaton Square, ringing doorbells (front door, not the tradesman’s entrance) and blagging her way inside to photograph the seemingly rich, the nouveau-rich and the super-rich. But, as Knorr explains, it wasn’t like that at all. The first image, she created for the series, Belgravia (one of four series featured in Marks of Distinction) was of her mother and grandmother in her parents’ flat (pictured right); the second was of her father. ‘I positioned myself as an implicated observer’ she says. Her planning was carried out with military precision (perhaps something to do with being the daughter of a major in the American army?). For example, it is no coincidence that the picture on the televisions in her images perfectly complement her staged scenes. Her work continues in a similar vein, highlighting ideological questions of identity, something that Knorr herself has faced being born in Germany, raised in Puerto Rico and educated in Paris and London. But there is another factor that sets Knorr’s work apart and further reinforces the ideological message, and that is her clever use of text. Her use of the written word supplements her visual language allowing the viewer the pleasure of accessing her work at a deeper level. The combination is a potent one and exemplifies the denotation and connotation dichotomy as propounded by Roland Barthes. Knorr acknowledges his influence, particularly on her early work, which reflects her own investigations into language and image. She sees her 4
photography as research, a visual exploration of the prejudices and values that underpin our society. In Knorr’s work, I see a visually pleasing representation of a sociology borne out of the Frankfurter school of critical theory. If Knorr had been a contemporary of the likes of Benjamin or Adorno, she would have surely received their seal of approval. It is no surprise, then, that Knorr is an ardent feminist, and as the daughter of a photojournalist and grand-daughter of a professor of bio-chemistry, she has successful rolemodels to follow. She is particularly passionate about the role of women in photography and reminds us how it is still very difficult to break into a world dominated by men, despite there being so much talent among the young female photographers. I sympathise with her, it is a prejudice that it still too widespread in the arts world.
Photo by Karen Knorr
But Knorr doesn’t just pay lip-service to this discrimination; she goes into action. For example, she’s currently supporting and getting involved with the Fast Forward: Women in Photography initiative, founded by one of her former pupils, Anna Fox.
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I am curious to know what she would have been if she hadn’t been a photographer. Expecting something philosophical or political, I am mildly surprised when she answers ‘oceanographer’ without hesitation. On reflection, perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised; there are similarities between the beauty of life underwater and the elegance of Knorr’s photography. And with so many oceanic mysteries still to be solved, I feel this would have suited Knorr’s inquisitive mind. With the number of photographers growing exponentially each day, and the changes brought about by accessible photography for all, I ask her how her professional life has changed in terms of how she uses her time. She now teaches less and spends more time promoting her work through social media: ‘There is a necessity to be constantly visible’, she adds. She
Amrita's Message, Nagaur Fort, Nagaur, 2012
enjoys the democracy and diversity of social media, which help overcome the tendency ‘to cocoon ourselves with like-minded individuals’. As I said at the outset, Knorr has an eye-watering schedule. When I spoke to her, she was about to board a plane for India. This month alone, she’s had exhibitions opening in Switzerland and New York. On her return, it’s straight into Photo London ...
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Palaiyakkaras, Hazararama Temple Hampi, 2012
Corridor, 2007 7
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Love at First Sight, Palazinna Cinese, 2016
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Ledoux’s Reception, 2004
Karen will be at Photo London signing copies of Belgravia and Gentlemen (Friday 19th May, 15:30 -16:30; details here), participating in the Speed Dating Portfolio Day on 20th May (details here) and showing Ladies (2011) with Augusta Edwards.
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DEUTSCHE BÖRSE PHOTOGRAPHY FOUNDATION PRIZE 2017 Adrian McCarthy reports
This is an annual exhibition with an award of £30,000 started in 1996 and was the UK’s first dedicated Photography award. It is open to any living photographer and their work in any format and genre and has been exhibited in Europe in the previous year. The winner will be announced during the current exhibition at the Photographers gallery. Four finalists have their work on show in the 4th and 5th floors of the gallery. The works exhibited are in Prints, Slides and Cine photography. The shortlisted photographers are: Sophie Calle,(France) has exhibited in a number of galleries and museums. Her work is a blend of images and narration. Her Print exhibition here is titled “My mother, my cat, my father, in that order, 2012” is a reflection on the passing of her parents and cat, gracefully done considering the rather morbid subject and serves as a memorial to them. Duo Yaiyo Onorato and Nico Krebs. (Switzerland) These two photographers work together to produce some interesting environmental photography, ranging from landscapes, set ups (like the milk bottle spilling) and studies a very interesting variety of pictures is exhibited. Dana Lixenberg. (The Netherlands) Exhibits some stunning environmental portrait work taken over 22 years called the “Imperial Courts Project” shown in multiple platforms and depicting the people and their environment in the under privileged Imperial courts area of Los Angeles.
Awoiska van der Molen (The Netherlands) Shows images of landscapes, which deliberately are very dark, relying on highlights to create very effective abstracts. I love her low camera angles for the portraits. 3RD MARCH TO 11TH JUNE 2017 4th and 5th floor Photographers' Gallery 16-18 Ramillies Street, London, W1F 7LW Entry £4 Concession £2.50 PG Members free. Entry gives access to all exhibitions. 29TH JUNE TO 17TH SEPTEMBER 2017 MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt 15TH NOVEMBER 2017 TO 11TH JANUARY 2018 Aperture foundation New York.
ALSO SHOWING AT THE PHOTOGRAPHERS' GALLERY: The Ceremony of Life: Early works by Martin Parr 3 MARCH TO 23 APRIL 2017 Roger Mayne: Photographs from the 1950’s and 60’s in Sheffield 3RD MARCH TO 11TH JUNE 2017 UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS 2017 Gregory Crewdson: Cathedral of the Pines. 23RD JUNE TO 8TH OCTOBER 2017 4 Saints in 3 Acts Various photographers dates 20TH OCT 2017 TO JANUARY 2018. For more information on these and other events, visit: www.thephotographersgallery.org.uk 11
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LIVING LONDON Judy Hicks LRPS reports on the launch of Living London. We had a fabulous evening on 29th March at the launch of Living London, the latest book with accompanying exhibition from the London, Urban micro-group. Living London follows last year’s Urbanicity, and features the work of ten photographers whose contributions range from London al fresco (inspired by the Breathing London Project) to a study of London's night cleaners. Fabulously curated by Jonathan Taylor, the exhibition looked wonderful and we enjoyed the warm and gracious hospitality of the Croatian Embassy once again. Many thanks to the Ambassador and staff of the Embassy, to the contributors, to the team who hung the Exhibition and to Dave Allen who led, coaxed and cajoled the team to bring this book to fruition. Copies of the book will be on sale via the RPS website here shortly. Our relationship with the Croatian Embassy has become very strong - anyone up for a visit to Croatia? 13
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PROJECTS BREATHING LONDON IS NEARING COMPLETION... The last date for photography was 17th April and the last date for uploads to the Breathing London website is 30th April - please get all your images uploaded as soon as you are able! We are planning three Exhibitions for the July and August: one in the Croatian Embassy, one in the Putney Library and one in north London, details of which are still to be confirmed. Don't forget to look on the Breathing London website and FB pages for details of our end of Project Portfolio competition: I don't think we have set up the website yet for entries, but do start planning now and we will let you know how to enter very soon.
...BUT OUR NEXT PROJECT IS IN THE WINGS 15
Photo © Rory Lewis
OUR NEXT BIG PROJECT WILL EXPLORE CELEBRATIONS IN LONDON. This subject was chosen at a meeting of London Region members on Monday 3rd April and is still very much in the planning stage, but if you'd like to be involved in shaping and helping to run this project, please e-mail londonro2@rps.org for next steps and more details.
Documentary Photographer of the Year 2017 Competition now open for entries Prizes include a one-on-one all day session with Stuart Franklin Hon FRPS and participation in the winners’ exhibition at theprintspace gallery.
CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS Photo © Mark Phillips ARPS 16
PHOTO LONDON Next month sees the annual photographic highlight of the capital, Photo London. The main events take place at Somerset House between the 18th and 21st May. Full details of what promises to be another exciting line-up of exhibitions, talks, book signings and tours are on the Photo London website. Don’t miss the talk by Paul Graham, presented by The Royal Photographic Society on Wednesday 17th May (details here).
Photo by Del Barrett ARPS 17
TWO BLUE BUCKETS Review by Mike Chopra-Gant ARPS
This vogue for ordinariness might appear to make the publication of Peter Fraser’s Two Blue Buckets particularly timely; its focus being the most ordinary of everyday items. However, Fraser is not some opportunist seeking to benefit from jumping the latest bandwagon. Two Blue Buckets was originally published in 1988, and this new, updated edition contains sufficient additional material from the 1980s to represent a major retrospective of Fraser’s work of that period.
“Quotidian” must be one of the most (unintentionally) ironic words in the English language. This word, which has become fashionable in certain circles in recent years, means simply the ordinary, the everyday; and its exquisite irony lies in the use of such an obscure, exotic and awkward-sounding word to designate nothing more than the mundane. But this increased usage of this word does signal something of significance; the extent to which everyday experience has moved to the centre of critical attention within the study of art and culture. 18
Even at a time of intensified interest in the everyday, work of this kind often baffles the viewer, and it is only possible to imagine how much more so this was true when these works were originally created. And in some ways it is possible that, among those artists who made the everyday their subject – Stephen Shore and William Eggleston, would seem the key examples – Fraser’s work stands out as having largely escaped the effects of passing time. Time has certainly changed the way we look at the work of Shore, and particularly
Eggleston. It has endowed their best known photographs with an aura of nostalgic romanticism, that certainly would not have been present at the time, and which forever changes the understanding it is possible for contemporary viewers to have of the work of these artists. This is particularly significant in the case of Eggleston, whose inspiration of, and close relationship with the young Fraser is well documented. But while the former was busy photographing the cars, signage, styles of dress and facial hair that provide the distinctive character of his work, and which would ultimately serve to date it, Fraser’s more abstract approach and choice of less time-bound subject matter has, with a small number of exceptions, inoculated his photography from these effects of time. Consequently, Fraser’s work seems as fresh, radical and innovative today as it ever did: blue buckets and green corrugated iron sheds in 2017 appear much the same as they did in 1986, and there is little else in most of the photographs to situate the image within a particular temporal frame. What there is in Fraser’s work, however, is an intense focus on ordinary things, which operates on a number of different conceptual levels. At the first, Fraser engages in a kind of visual phenomenology of things. The buckets, sheds, suitcases and lightbulbs are, first and foremost, simply what they are. And they are scrutinised rigorously by Fraser’s objective lens. But stay a while with each image and the subjects begin to transcend their
“thingness” and morph into abstract, formal compositions that bring the pleasures offered by the relationships between lines and curves, light and colour within the frame. Finally, many of the images unexpectedly yield narrative possibilities. They possess an enigmatic quality that leaves the viewer pondering the possible stories behind the image. The sight of a man’s arm projecting through the centre of the frame in one shot leaves us wondering as to the identity of its owner, and what has happened to him. In another image we speculate about the life of “Mrs Malone”, the owner of a battered alarm clock bearing her name, and about the reasons for the odd collection of objects on her table. A wood saw and soiled cardigan beg the question “what has happened here (and where is the body)?” Fraser’s photography is complicated, then, and rich in opportunities for the viewer to invest each work with a range of meanings produced through the interaction of image and imagination. And consequently, the publication of this beautifully produced new edition of Two Blue Buckets brings to a new audience a highly significant and worthwhile body of work from a photographer who deserves to be better known. Peter will be signing copies of Two Blue Buckets at Photo London on Thursday 18th May. 15:00 – 16:00; DETAILS HERE 19
STAIRCASES You can’t win if you don’t enter, as the old adage says. London member, Katie Boswell, shares her recent success in the International Photograher of the Year Awards.
I was very pleased to be awarded second prize in the International Photographer of the Year Awards (IPOTY), in the Interior Architecture Category (Amateur) for my panel “Staircases of London.” The panel featured six of my favorite spiral staircases in London. The photographs are part of a larger, ongoing project that came to fruition because I love to photograph spiral staircases and London has many unique ones. Before long I had a series, and along the way picked up some interesting tidbits about the city. For example, the panel included the Tulip Stairs, found in the Queen’s House in Greenwich. This staircase is notable architecturally because it was the first self supporting helical staircase in Britain. I think it is an elegant display of light and curves, and beautifully demonstrates 17th century wrought-iron craftsmanship. My panel also included stairs from: the Newport Street Gallery; Heal’s department store; citizenM hotel; and the Wellcome Collection. So far, my staircases collection spans five hundred years, with staircases dating from the 17-21 centuries. I would greatly encourage anyone who hasn’t done so to enter photography competitions. I have found them to be excellent learning opportunities and you never know when you just may win! Some organizations are even known to provide feedback, which is immensely useful. If you’re like me, competitions place you outside your comfort zone, which is where I find the real growth happens. They also offer an opportunity to see other photographers’ work across a variety of different categories, which I find extremely helpful in fostering my own creative process. If there is something you particularly enjoy photographing, consider creating a series. A series can sometimes convey a more purposeful body of work than a one off image. A series can also help narrow your focus, which can be helpful when you have the photographer’s equivalent of writer’s block. Opposite, some images from the panel:
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Photos by Katie Boswell 21
A NICE CUP OF TEA Back in 1826, when you went to the cafe for a morning cuppa, you were more likely than not to have your orange pekoe adulterated with floor sweepings. And worse. So John Horniman, a small tea trader on the Isle of Wight, hit on the idea of selling tea in pre-sealed packets. The idea caught on big time, and by 1891, Horniman was the world's largest trader of tea. You don't see it so much in the UK, Horniman's Tea.But all over Europe, especially in Spain(?), those little bags still carry the Horniman label
DAVE’S DIARY A regular column about a photographer’s life in London by Dave Harris LRPS
HISTORY Photographer of old; child of the darkroom; reborn to digital FAVOURITE GENRE Street; people; life around me PHILOSOPHY Always looking; snapper; grab the moment CAMERA Nikon D750 14-120mm; Olympus Stylus 1 CAMERA CLUB South London Photographic Society LRPS April 2015 22
With lots of money to his name (and bank account), Fred Horniman, John's son, started collecting all sorts of things, but mainly ethnographic and musical. And to house all these 'things', he built a lovely museum And more to the point, at least for my diary, he also built a lovely garden in the museum grounds. Part two of the Breathing London March walk continued on from Crystal Palace Park to these gardens (taking in a delicious pub lunch along the way). They're lovely. Small and compact, the antidote to Kew Gardens. There's a formal Italian garden. A pavilion which houses concerts over the summer weekends. A display garden which was displaying 'Keep Out' signs when we were there - "planting in progress" would be kinder. A small animal enclosure for the nippers. A sound garden - weird and unusual. And an odd collection of sundials scattered throughout the gardens. All built on a hill, great views over London, so easy to fill the frame. Visit if you get the chance.
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HAVE YOU GOT A STORY TO TELL? Or pictures to show? Have you been on a trip, at a workshop or to a fair? Are you working on a project or preparing an exhibition? Have you met a photographer who your fellow RPS London members should know of or visited an exhibition they should see? We love to hear from you. Get in touch with Capital Interest to share your experience. CLICK HERE 24
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