The appointment with is now a great classic of the spring trade fair calendar in the English capital Photo London at Somerset House. And there is optimism on the part of the founders of the fair, Michael BensonAnd Fariba Farshadwhich on the eve of the event underline the ability to return to pre-pandemic levels (this would also be confirmed by the mass return of US galleries, including ten New York ones: we remember that in 2023 Candlestar, which produces the fair, has launched a New York version), for an edition that will have to ferry Photo London towards the tenth anniversary of 2025.
Photo London 2024. The featured galleries
The event dedicated to photography reaches its ninth edition this year, exploring as usual the most up-to-date results of the discipline, but at the same time celebrating its past, with the contribution of over 120 exhibitors from 44 cities around the world. The fair will take place from May 16th to 19th (press preview on the 14th, VIP preview on the 15th), thus presenting the work of more than 400 international photographers, protagonists not only at the gallery stands, but also in the exhibitions and talks that will enliven the four-day programme. As always, the aim is to enhance the photographic medium in all its forms, giving space to a multiplicity of techniques (including the exploration of the potential of artificial intelligence), styles and themes, from photoreportage to shots of social and political denunciation, to fashion and travel photography, portrait, abstraction. Next to the Main Fair the section is confirmed Discovery, dedicated to emerging artists, under the curatorship of Charlotte Jansen, who for the first time will present a new section – Positions – dedicated to representing photographers excluded from the mainstream circuit: a debut that will bring together five artists called to work on the concept of beauty. But the Photo London Nikon Emerging Photographer Award is also dedicated to younger people.
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The history of photography on display at Photo London
While they look at the history of photography in the exhibition on the English pioneers of the medium – from Lewis Carroll to Julia Margaret Cameron And William Henry Fox Talbot – organized by Robert Hershkowitz Ltd’sand the excursus on French photography – The Magic Art of French Calotype. Paper Negative Photography 1846 – 1860 – edited by Robert Hershkowitz. Also from France comes the Photo London Master of Photography 2024 designated, Valerie Belin (Boulogne-Billancourt, 1964), present with the solo exhibition Silent Storieswhich traces three decades of his activity.
Photo London exhibitions, from women of photography to sport according to Martin Parr
Among the scheduled exhibitions there is also a focus on women of photography from the past and present, from Helen Levitt to Lee Miller (a film about her, played by Kate Winslet, will be released in September 2024), to contemporary Lydia Goldblatt, Jacquie Maria Wessels And Siân Davey. Fashion photography will instead be represented by the projects of Steven Meisel And Max Vadukul for Ira Stehmann Fine Art, by Sarah Moonexhibited at Persiehl & Heine and Peter Fetterman Gallery, e Patrick Demarchelier for ATLAS Gallery. Protagonists of the fair, with personal projects, also include the Peruvian Roberto Huarcaya with the monumental installation Amazogramas, Martin Parr (also protagonist on the talk stage, curated by Thames & Hudson) and his sports-themed shots, Gilbert McCarragherwith an installation inspired by Derek Jarman’s Prospect Cottage.
The host region of the 2024 edition is Türkiye, present with 8 galleries. For l‘Italythey will exhibit 29 ARTS IN PROGRESS And PODBIELSKI CONTEMPORARYboth arriving from Milan, e New Space from Rome.
Livia Montagnoli
Discover Photo London 2024 here
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