Photo London is a major photography event with more than 70 exhibitors, including the world’s leading photography galleries and publishers, alongside an innovative public programme supported by the LUMA Foundation.
Showcasing a broad range of photographic practice, from vintage to contemporary, Photo London exhibitions will include Beneath the Surface from the V&A collection, Sebastião Salgado’s Genesis in Platinum and Kaveh Golestan’s Prostitute, while a specially commissioned installation by Rut Blees Luxemburg will fill the Courtyard. Talks, music sessions and book signings around the fair will change the way you look at photography.
Photo London is a celebration of the city as creative capital and world centre for photography, and in the same way Frieze whets our appetites for art, Photo London aspires to do the same for photography, looking set to join the ranks of the art fair on the international arts and culture circuit.
1. A Conversation at the Edge of an Object, The Royal College of Art
The prestigious London art institution has put together a strong range of works for a group exhibition based around the photograph as art, document and conversation.
2. Ruth van Beek, The Ravestijn Gallery
Working with found photographs and watercolour, Dutch-born van Beek’s beautiful collages really stood out from the hundreds of images on display.
3. Mike Seaborne, Bernard Quaritch Ltd.
The urban landscape photographer’s poetic images of down-at-heel London shop fronts are documents of some of the more familiar, now gentrified parts of the East End like Redchurch Street.
4. Adam Bartos, Robert Morat Galerie
Lush, saturated photographs of the kitsch curiosities from New Yorker Adam Bartos’ Yard Saleseries are are stand-outs at German gallery Robert Morat.
5. Ishiuchi Miyako and Eamonn Doyle, Michael Hoppen Gallery
London’s Michael Hoppen Gallery had two winners. From her series Frida documenting Frida Kahlo’s wardrobe and belongings, Ishuichi Miyako’s poignant photograph of the prosthetic leg the Mexican artist designed for herself takes centre stage. Equally striking are the photographs of stooped over passers-by from Eamonn Doyle’s series of “Beckettian” figures seen on the streets of Dublin.
6. J.D. ’Okhai Ojeikere, Tiwani Contemporary
Known for his work with elaborate Nigerian hairstyles, Nigerian photographer J.D. Okhai Ojeikere’s hair portraits were best in show at Tiwani Contemporary, a London gallery dedicated to contemporary African art.