Cecil Beaton - Tyneside Shipyards - Outside exhibitions
This work by the famous, late Cecil Beaton documents the dying ship building industry in one of Britain’s most important pre-war ports. The work also shows the positive effects the war had on this industry. The need for battleships meaning that the workforce almost doubled in only a few years. I think this is an interesting/positive take on a subject often conveyed so negatively through images such as McCullin’s and earlier Capa’s. I am by no means saying that The Second World War was a good event but i like to think there are opportunities in bad situations.
In terms of the exhibits themselves, I went expecting a usual gallery style showing but was surprised to find the 6 large scale prints outside the building and as I walk around them now the shadows and sunshine become part of the photographs, it is nice to be able to be amongst the images, pick how you want them to be viewed and see how the environment changes them. However, this might not be as enjoyable in the rain.
Gerry Judah - The Crusader 2010 - 3D Instillation
Although not a photograph, this 3D piece really caught my attention in the main exhibition space. From some angles it looked like a cross. Contrasting the holy symbol with an object of discord and the destruction that war brings. Personally, i believe that the vast majority of wars and conflicts have something to do with religion and differences in belief - I think this shown well in this composition. It’s form is quite sharp and broken which relates to the impacts of war yet it is the purest of toneless white which not only make it bold but bring in the idea of god and the greater being.
The Lowry
Harry Hammond - Halfway to Paradise - Iconic singer and band photography
Sometimes said to be the “founding father of music photography” Harry Hammond shows his work with bold, black and white portraits often with multiple catchlights and top-lit images. However, are these images really about music? Or are they more about the personalities, characters and our own understanding of the 1960’s celebrities in the images? The photography from around this time was starting to portray the ideas of the celebrity and what they were like ‘off the stage’ - could this of paved the way for the reality television and celebrity obsessed culture of today? V&A website
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