Construction work to start on The Photographers’ Gallery, London

The Photographers’ Gallery is creating an iconic new building in the heart of London’s West End.

On 19 September 2010, the Gallery will close its doors to the public for a year while it embarks on its ambitious development of the building, creating a new, international home for photography in the UK. From October 2010, construction will begin at 16-18 Ramillies Street. Architects O’Donnell + Tuomey’s exciting plans will transform the former Edwardian warehouse into a state-of-the-art photography gallery.

The architectural plans include contemporary additions of textured acrylic render, Angelim Pedra hard wood and anthracite coloured terrazzo to elements of the existing structure and fabric of the building. The end result will provide three floors of dedicated public galleries that will enable the exhibition programme to be expanded; a floor dedicated to learning, offering space for a comprehensive programme of talks, events and education series and workshops; an enhanced Bookshop and Print Sales to nurture and inspire a new generation of collectors; a brand new café at street level; continued free admission and full access, including a passenger lift for public use.

Established in 1971, as the nation’s very first public gallery dedicated to photography, The Photographers’ Gallery always resided in the Soho area. Building on its heritage as one of the world’s primary venues for photography, it has welcomed around half-a-million visitors annually. Responding to the growing popularity in photography, in 2008 plans were launched to relocate with a major £8.7 million capital campaign. Now, two years later the gallery has reached a key moment in its history and are in the final stages of creating a unique ‘cultural oasis’ in the heart of central London.

During the construction period, the Gallery will operate a reduced programme offsite. Working in and around the Soho area, a series of innovative artist-led projects have been programmed, supported by Bloomberg, as have talks & events for visitors of all ages. The Print Sales will continue to be available to collectors through photography fairs and by appointment at its satellite location and the beloved Bookshop will be available to browse via its new online shop. To keep up-to-date with all the news, activities and developments join its free newsletter – sign up at www.photonet.org.uk.

Coinciding with its 40th anniversary, The Photographers’ Gallery will reopen in Autumn 2011. Further information on anniversary events and the opening programme will be posted on the website.

Lisa Elmaleh

All images © Lisa Elmaleh

Today's post features some good old honest and straightforward landscape photography courtesy of Lisa Elmaleh.

"As a native of South Florida," she says "the Everglades are an ecosystem that have shaped my own history. Inspired by the early photographers of the American west, I have documented the flora and fauna of the Everglades using my large format camera and the wet collodion process, a nineteenth century process which renders light slowly and reveals the passing of time."

"The Everglades are the only ecological system of its kind. To date, more than half of the Everglades have been repurposed for urban and agricultural use. 'Freshwater flowing into the park is engineered,' reads the brochure given to all visitors of Everglades National Park. 'With the help of pumps, floodgates, and retention ponds… the Everglades is presently on life support, alive but diminished.' I hope to preserve an essence of the Everglades, a land we are rapidly losing without knowing the magnitude of our loss."

You can also view a video of her project here on Kickstarter.

Elmaleh is a recipient of the Goldwell Artist Residency (2010), the Everglades National Park Artist Residency (2010), the Camera Club of New York Darkroom Residency (2008), and the Tierney Fellowship (2007). Elmaleh's work has been published in Harper's, Dear Dave, and Visura Magazine. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including a solo show at KMR Arts (2010 Washington, CT), Arbor (2009), Michael Mazzeo Gallery, New York, NY), Linked: New Yorkers Meet Londoners(2009, Keumsan Gallery, Korea), and the New York Photo Festival(2007&2010, Powerhouse, New York, US). She holds a BFA with honours from the School of Visual Arts.

John Szarkowski: Simply the best?

Was John Szarkowski really the most influential person in 20th-century photography? It's a no brainer, right? Of course he was.

"An insightful critic as well as a visionary curator, Szarkowski filled New York's Museum of Modern Art with the colour photography of William Eggleston, and championed the transgressive work of Diane Arbus and Lee Friedlander. Everyone who cares about photography is in his debt," writes Sean O'Hagan in this article over at The Guardian.

Now nobody is trying to downplay Szarkowski's contribution to the medium, but consider this response from Peter Galassi during a symposium at The Shpilman Institute for Photography:

"In a sense, for Szarkowski it was easier because nothing was worth anything, and nothing was shown anywhere else. And the artists came to him. Because there were no galleries that was the only way."

Watch this video clip, and decide for yourself whether there's an element of truth in this statement.

1000 Words Photography - The Collection

We are pleased to present three photographs from Virgílio Ferreira for the 1000 Words Collection.






















Medium - 1 available
Edition of 15
£700.00
50 x 50 cm paper size
40 x 40 cm image size

NB: This is a Giclée print on Epson Premium Lustre paper. It comes with a certificate signed by the artist and is number 1 from the edition. Each print is produced with a white border around the photograph to allow for framing. We also have included some cotton gloves to protect the print during handling.























Medium - 1 available
Edition of 15
£700.00
50 x 50 cm paper size
40 x 40 cm image size

NB: This is a Giclée print on Epson Premium Lustre paper. It comes with a certificate signed by the artist and is number 1 from the edition. Each print is produced with a white border around the photograph to allow for framing. We also have included some cotton gloves to protect the print during handling.























Medium - 1 available
Edition of 15
£700.00
50 x 50 cm paper size
40 x 40 cm image size

NB: This is a Giclée print on Epson Premium Lustre paper. It comes with a certificate signed by the artist and is number 1 from the edition. Each print is produced with a white border around the photograph to allow for framing. We also have included some cotton gloves to protect the print during handling.

All images © Virgílio Ferreira

Taken in and around the burgeoning Asian cities of Bangkok, Macao, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai and Tokyo, the photographs in Virgílio Ferreira´s series Daily Pilgrims are portraits of anonymous passers-by ensnared by his lens.

The faces are routinely blurred whereas the backdrop remains in focus, creating a seductive unreality that leaves an evocative impression without actually describing the specifics of the place. It is this precise "information deficit," Ferreira says, which is what "catches the eye of the observer and makes the portrayee stand out, also adding enigma."

By creating a symbolic tension between the subject and the setting, Ferreira has managed to poetically conjure up the feelings of solitude and alienation that are by-products of modern city living. Commenting on such places, he says, "in all of them, territory and behaviour are changing fast. Cities seem to mirror our state of mind and reveal secrets that can be decoded when minute details are looked at: it is between the lines that I seek ambiguities and contradictions."

Ferreira´s gaze is swift and furtive, presenting the viewer with glimpses of people´s untold stories. One image foregrounds a smirking youngster who exposes his tattooed arm to us while soaring sky scrapers loom large in the distance; in another, a face is simultaneously assailed and attacked by the street lights, this time spindly branches of trees sprout up behind. Elsewhere, as lovers embrace on a park bench their liquid outline almost melts into the brightly-lit futuristic building, the image becomes imbued with an emotional atmosphere that is typical of the entire series.

As such, Daily Pilgrims provides a fresh perspective on the tradition of street photography and offers a vision of the East that is so strange yet so familiar.

Collections is a new initiative that has been set up by Troika Editions to provide photography organisations with the opportunity to showcase their own art collections online and pursue alternative funding avenues through the sale of limited edition prints.

As a not-for-profit organisation the net proceeds from all sales of limited edition prints in the 1000 Words Collection will go entirely back into supporting 1000 Words Photography Magazine and help finance our extended programme of exhibitions and events including workshops; portfolio reviews; talks; panel discussions as well as prizes and awards.