Welcome to femLENS’ first bi-monthly Photography Industry Recap! The Recap is intended to give you a bi-monthly update on exhibitions, the most relevant dialogues about the ethics of photography, introduce you to interesting articles, and finally, bring some photographic inspiration from the industry right to you. It aims to be accessible, global, relevant and useful – let us know if you think we hit the mark, or if there’s something else you’d like to see included in future Recaps.
Exhibitions
HundredHeroines.org is a go-to for all things ‘exhibition’. Until 22 May 2022, find female-led and contributed ‘Contested Landscapes’, an exhibition exploring ‘new perspectives on humanity and climate change’, in Heidelberg, Germany.
From 12 to 15 May experience the seventh ‘Photo London’ fair in London. HundredHeroines.org will be covering the fair, and the contemporary female photographers whose work is leading the way forward. Virtual tour is available on the website.
The Mariane Ibrahim Gallery in Chicago is exhibiting Zohra Opoku’s ‘I Have Arisen’ until 14 May 2022. It’s the first of a two-part series, fully titled “The Myths of Eternal Life”. The series, inspired by the health challenges of the artist, explores life, death and healing.
In Switzerland, Fotomuseum Winterthur has been open since February. Until the end of May, if you’re in the area you have the chance to check in and check out their ‘FOTOBIBLIOTHEK IN DER PASSAGE’ – a collection of print works displaying artistic photography.
Ethics
On 6 May, @duckrabbitblog called out Médecins Sans Frontières (@MSF) on Twitter for defending photography which included fully identifiable details (name, location, visual) of a 16-year-old who had been gang-raped at gun-point. The ethics of photographing a minor with sensitive details can bring into question the ethics of human rights photography as a whole.
In late April, @duckrabbit had also retweeted a photo-journal article displaying a 32-year old African woman in a dark room, with a net covering her head to draw attention to the dehumanisation of black women in photography.
The Photo Ethics Podcast from the Photography Ethics Centre hasn’t posted a new episode in their series of 12 since 2021, but founder Savannah Dodd asks important questions of her guests: most recently of Hannah Fletcher on sustainable photography practices, for those interested in greener practices.
Commit to writing and publishing your own Statement of Ethics, if you haven’t yet. See Photo Ethics website to learn the tips.
Articles
On 6 May, National Geographic published: “Stress, love joy – what mother’s photographed during the pandemic.’ The article explores and celebrates over 27,000 images which were submitted to a project named ‘Eye Mama’, which aimed to lessen the isolation of mothers during the pandemic.
AnOther published, ‘In Pictures: The Changing Face of Britain Over the Past 70 Years,’, an article about Gerry Badger’s new photo-book which includes work by renowned photographers Sunil Gupta and and Thurston Hopkins. You can check out the photo-book here.
The National writes an exhibition displaying the works of celebrated photojournalist David Hurn, will open at Ffoto Newport. It will showcase pieces by the artist from the 1970’s and 80’s.
Four to Follow #16: Photo Stories by African Photojournalists, published on Witness. This one is from mid-April again, but more than deserves a mention, as it displays African photojournalism by African photo-journalists.
Inspiration
Marilyn Stafford FotoReportage Award is open for submissions until 20 May. The award aims to recognise professional womxn photographers whose visual reporting focuses on an ‘important social, environmental, economical or cultural issue’ local or global.
Fine Art Photography: A Complete Guide is Peta Pixels May release which doesn’t just guide you on Fine Art exhibitions, but how to begin shooting your own Fine Art Photo-pieces.