UK Photography Galleries | Exhibitions

Austin / Desmond Fine Art in collaboration with Galleria Repetto present a solo exhibition of Italian conceptual photographer Luigi Ghirri (1943-1992). A leading practitioner in the medium of colour photography and producing his most innovative work during the 70s and 80s, Ghirri played a pivotal role in firmly establishing colour photography as an important medium in contemporary art.

‘Fleece’ is this year’s BA Photography Graduate Show from The Arts University Bournemouth whose alumni include Wolfgang Tillmans and Simon Cunningham. This exhibition represents the culmination of 3 years work dedicated to exploring the creative potential of photography through a range of distinct practices. The Bargehouse is situated between Waterloo Station and the Tate Modern; making this both a unique and convenient opportunity to see what may be the beginnings of the next generation of influential photographic artists.

The show will present a selection of Kempenaers’ architectural and island studies in tandem with the renowned Spomenik series charting World War Two memorials built in the 1960s and ‘70s across The Balkans in the former Yugoslavia.

In this exhibition of vintage photographs from the 1940s, Londoners salvage their possessions from the rubble of their homes and take refuge in the city’s underground stations. Walls crumble, buildings open like dollhouses, and families go about their errands wearing gas masks. Many of these photographs were used for press purposes and are unique historic documents as well as important works of art.

Precious is a collection of intimate nude portraits of working girls in Nevada, the only state in America where prostitution is legal. The women are all from different cultural backgrounds and the variety of ages and body shapes represented challenge the traditional idea of beauty. Hilton photographed the girls with a plate camera taking hours of their patience, it became a bonding experience between the artist and her sitters. The trust engendered is evident in each image.

Christian Vogt is recognized as one of the most important and accomplished Swiss photographers exploring the limits of photography today. Born in 1946, he has been producing his impressive collection of photographic work since the late 1960s. Vogt is lauded worldwide for his creative inventiveness and unexpected twists. Photographic historian Martin Gasser fittingly identified him as “a master of photographic haikus and a virtuoso of associative pictorial storytelling.

In continuing exploration and presentation of important Japanese photography, Michael Hoppen Gallery will this year stage major solo shows of two of its grand masters: Nobuyoshi Araki and later in the year, Miyako Ishiuchi. Each an artist with a unique vision and aesthetic, both producing highly charged work in examining the sensitive subjects of that society.

The exhibition will range over his entire oeuvre including nudes, portraits, self-portraits and floral still life. Here you will find the famous and the infamous including some of his best known portraits. Mapplethorpe’s choices were both innovative and bold. His cutting-edge use of natural light and challenging themes has become embedded in our culture with pervasive echoes not only in the work of other artists but in mainstream advertising and rock music imagery.

Eva Stenram (b.1976) uses found images, such as the negatives of pin-up shoots and thumbed centrefolds taken from old magazines, as her source of inspiration and working material. These are scanned and imported to digital files that Stenram manipulates, reinterpreting each image anew. In this series, the background − the drapes that give the show its title – takes central stage. Once the backdrop falls in front of the model (negating access to this objectified body), the viewer becomes aware of their voyeuristic desire and erotic impulses. By questioning the paradigms and hierarchical values of studio photography, the artist confers to this imagery altogether a new meaning.

Julião Sarmento: 75 photographs, 35 women, 42 years

Are you a rock 'n' roller of a 'certain age'?
From Tommy Steele to the Beatles, Shirley Bassey to Dusty Springfield, Hammond captured the emergence of the British rock 'n' rollers.  This exhibition will feature 100 photographs, a lively soundtrack and a few surprises from Scarborough Museums Trust own collections.

This exhibition highlights some of the UK’s most interesting fine-art photographers. The exhibitor’s subject matter includes portraiture, satire, the theatre and dramatic rural and urban landscapes using traditional and digital techniques. Their images evoke elusive and surreal memories and fragments of the exotic and urbane; beauty in decay, social narrative and joy in the grandeur of the “World’s Stage” in breathtaking clarity. This exciting exhibition challenges the viewer to look again at that which we take for granted. Graham Portlock, Steve Stoddart, Scarlet Monahan, Penny Morgan, Dibs Dibley, Paul Cooklin and Ben Mathers bring their photographic art to the Apex Gallery.

The four artists shortlisted for the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2013 are Mishka Henner, Chris Killip, Cristina De Middel and the artist duo Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin. The winner will be announced at a special ceremony at The Photographers’ Gallery on 10 June 2013. Works by the shortlisted photographers will be shown in an exhibition at The Photographers’ Gallery followed by presentations at the Deutsche Börse headquarters in Frankfurt/Eschborn and at C/O Berlin, Forum for Visual Dialogues.

Blossfeldt (1865-1932) was a pioneering German photographer who came to prominence in the 1920s. A trained sculptor, draughtsman and teacher, he created exquisitely beautiful, close-up photographs of plants.
Celebrated internationally for his significant contribution to the field of art and nature, Blossfeldt is regarded as one of the defining photographers of the twentieth century. He was committed to the study of form within nature and dedicated 35 years to exclusively photographing botanical subject matter. Developing a series of homemade cameras that allowed him to photograph plant surfaces in magnified detail, his stark, objective approach emphasised the
detailed beauty of nature.

Love Me reflects on the cultural and commercial forces that drive global obsessions with youth and beauty. Over a period of five years Zed Nelson visited eighteen countries across five continents, photographing cosmetic surgeons, beauty queens and bodybuilders alongside everyday teenagers, housewives and businessmen.