Photo 50 Exhibition
The photo 50 exhibition this year followed the theme of "Who's looking at the family now?" a glance back and homage to the pivotal Val Williams exhibition "Who's looking at the family? at the Barbican 25 years ago.
The exhibition contained works looking at the idea of family and everything it entails, including themes like death, loss, family secrets, alienation, and pain. A hugely diverse range of works were shown but my two favourits were "Front" by Trish Morrissey and "Big Brother" by Louis Quail
Front: Trish Morrissey
In this photo series Morrissey inserts herself into groups of people (often families) and crosses the boundaries of the individual territories set up by these groups becoming a spectre in the group.
It took me several viewings of the series to realise that the matriarchal figure in each scene is the same person and then upon reading the accompanying text came to know it was in fact Morrissey. I love the theme and idea of this series and the thoughts a feelings it provokes about the ideas of family, and how permeable the boundaries of the idea of family really are.
Images left to right: "Donna Plant", "Hayley Coles", "Katy McDonnell", "Racheal Hobson", "Sylvia Westbrook" from the series "Front" by Trish Morrissey.
Big Brother: Louis Quail
Quails series "Big Brother" documents the life of his older brother Justin who has schizophrenia. It is an honest view at the highs and lows of day to day life, his love of bird watching, and his relationship with his long term girlfriend Jackie. The book itself contains a mix of photography, art by Justin, and various documents and letters relating to Justin, his illness and its impact on life including police reports and medical letters.
Below are a selection of my favourite images from those exhibited:
