Subterms
The German film-maker was a prolific photographer in the 1970s and ’80s – he claims to have taken more than 12,000 photographs – often on location and sometimes of his cast and crew. In recent years he has recovered some of the Polaroids he gave away to friends, and scanned, reprinted and exhibited them. I […] More
In an age increasingly plagued by the overuse of the word ‘iconic’, it is salutary to be reminded of what makes an image truly deserve the tag. Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California (1936) is one of those photographs in which the combination of compositional brilliance, human empathy, and political significance makes for something simultaneously […] More
In 1815 Mount Tambora in Indonesia erupted. It is considered one of the largest volcanic eruptions ever – bigger than Krakatoa and Vesuvius. Twelve thousand people were killed directly by the volcanic activity, but the fallout was felt far beyond the immediate area and resulted in tens of thousands more deaths. The poet Li Yuyang […] More
An index is a list of names or subjects to be cross-referenced; it is a symptom, or an indicator which measures scale, value or success. Our index fingers are termed as such because they are our ‘pointing fingers’ – the fingers with which we single out, select, warn, admonish, unify and praise. In photography, the index is […] More
On 15 August 1947, 33-year-old photographer Homai Vyarawalla squared her lens on a beaming Lord Mountbatten, his right arm waving over the crowds that had gathered at Parliament House in Delhi. As an employee of the British Information Services, Vyarawalla was no stranger to photographing the British viceroy of India, but this was a uniquely […] More
Martin Parr is unexpectedly good at barking. A gruff noise, more ‘ruff’ than ‘woof’. His bark is directed at a permed white dog who is a bit too excited by the occasion to sit still long enough for Parr to photograph it standing between its two owners. Man, woman, and dog stand in front of […] More
In 1962, Latif Al Ani, two years into his stint as lead photographer for Iraq’s Ministry of Information and Guidance, turned his camera to a familiar subject: Jewad Selim’s majestic Monument of Freedom, which spans Baghdad’s central Tahrir Square. Just a short walk from the Tigris river, Selim’s 50-metre-wide bas-relief had been completed in 1959, […] More
Between 2014 and 2016 the documentary photographer Martin Parr turned his wry gaze to the University of Oxford. The resulting exhibition and book present a photographic portrait of the university today; laying bare its hidden stories and eccentricities. Speaking at the launch of ‘Martin Parr: Oxford’ in the Bodleian Weston Library, the artist expanded on […] More
