Photographic projects are often described as relating to ‘place’, ‘land’ or ‘community’, each with their own specific dimension. The ‘local’ however has more negative associations, neatly encapsulated by the catchphrase of the deranged shopkeeper from the League of Gentlemen: "This is a local shop for local people; there’s nothing for you here". The local represents the civic function of society – local government, education, reporting, services – and, probably not coincidentally, has been the most severely affected by the rise of social media and the financial crash of 2008. These local functions have always used photography and in this issue we look at local photojournalism, archives and council services. How are they managing with reduced resources and do they continue to have a role or, as the shopkeeper says, is there ‘nothing for you here’?
Originally from Alexandria, Egypt, Mohamed Hassan has been living and working in Pembrokeshire, West Wales since 2007. Over the last two years he has been working on his project Witnessing Wales "documenting people and places from the perspective of an incomer". Hassan’s perspective is informed by a personal experience of "less tolerance of my background with people sometimes behaving very negatively towards me as a fear of Islam and Muslims has grown". Kandace Siobhan Walker who grew up in Wales introduces this series of "expansive observations on identity and community and country".
Artist Leah Gordon and writer Annabel Edwards have collaborated on the project A Remembrance of the Enclosure Act. The project started from a belief that an understanding of the Enclosure Acts is vital to having a critical understanding of the politics that we inhabit now. Enclosures became widespread in the 18th and 19th centuries removing rights of people to rural land they had often used for generations. Gordon and Edwards identified small pockets of common land that still exist and made contact with local people who still had common rights over that land. As well as making portraits of them they also gathered personal and historic stories they knew about the land.
Joe McGarrigle worked as a clerical officer for Ireland’s national bus and transport company. He also worked as a freelance writer and photographer for a number of local newspapers and submitted reports for Radio Éireann and RTÉ. After his death in 1993 his archive of over 5,000 negatives was rediscovered by his son, who would have occasionally accompanied his father on assignment, in the attic of the family home. Son and Grandson are now in the process of scanning and connecting the images with writing sometimes published in the local newspaper, as well as from unpublished notes, interviews and audio recordings. An archive of Super 8 film is yet to be explored. Colin Graham has been talking to them and introduces the work as part of our ongoing look at photographers’ archives. "They represent, I think, a very particular way of seeing the world which recognises, as Patrick Kavanagh once wrote, that we have all 'lived in important places', no matter how local, how parochial such a place may be.
- The Editors -
- FASHION: CONOR CLINCH & RYAN ZAMAN
Column by Joseph McBrinn
- WHEN IS SOMEONE GOING TO REMOVE THIS RUBBISH?
The service FixMyStreet enables people to use geolocation, text and photographs to make reports about problems in their area. How is photography being used to spur local government into action on citizen’s behalf?
Feature by Josh Allen
- FLOTSAM: HENRY FOX TALBOT
Column by Orla Fitzpatrick
- PICTURING LOCAL NEWS
The Kerryman’s Michelle Cooper-Galvin has four decades of experience as a local press photographer.
Interview by Eve Forrest
- LOCAL TAPESTRY
Ella Ravilious is a trustee of Beaford Arts. She is the daughter of the photographer James Ravilious and a curator at the V&A. Mark Lawrence is joint manager at Oxfordshire History Centre. They spoke about photographic collections in local archives.
Interview between Ella Ravillous and Mark Lawrence
- WHAT TYPE OF PHOTOGRAPHER ARE YOU?
Pat Healy, Horse Racing Photographer
As told to Richard West
- Enclosure
NEW WORK BY LEAH GORDON
Text by Simon Denison
- Witnessing Wales
NEW WORK BY MOHAMED HASSAN
Text by Kandace Siobhan Walker
- James Barnor Accra / London
5 November - 31 May Serpentine Gallery, London
Exhibition Review by Polly Savage
- Dara McGrath - For Those That Tell No Tales
24 April - 29 August Crawford Art Gallery, Cork
Exhibition Review by Nora Labo
- Zanele Muholi
5 November - 31 May Tate Modern, London
Exhibition Review by Gabriella Nugent
- Unearthed
8 August - 30 August Dulwich Picture Gallery, London
Exhibition Review by Sarah McDonald
- Body of Land - Awuor Onyango and Sekai Machache
12 June - 1 August Street Level Photoworks, Glasgow
Exhibition Review by Martyna Ewa Majewska
- Through a Native Lens: American Indian Photography
Nicole Dawn Strathman
University of Oklahoma Press
The Grass Shall Grow: Hele Post Photographs the Native American West
Mick Gidley
University of Nebraska Press
Book Review by Colin Samson
- Photography After Capitalism
Ben Burbridge
Goldsmiths Press
Book Review by Roberta McGrath
- How I Tried to Convince My Husband to have Children
Olga Bushkova
Witty Books
Book Review by Daniel Jewesbury
- Encampment, Wyoming: Selections from the Lora Webb Nichols Archive, 1899-1948
Nicole Jean Hill, (ed.)
FW Books
Book Review by Mick Gidley
- Photography and Belief
David Levi Strauss
David Zwirner Books
Book Review by James Downs
- Counting Till Ten
Isabelle Wenzel
Art Paper Editions
Book Review by Harriet Riches
- Stable Vices
Joanna Piotrowska
Mack Books
Book Review by Jelena Stojkovic
- How To Look Natural In Photos
Beata Bartecka, Łukasz Rusznica (eds)
Palm Studios
Book Review by Richard West
- Curator Conversations
Tim Clark (ed)
1000 words
Book Review by Andrew Hunt
- Off Camera
Steven Humblet (ed)
Roma
Book Review by Lucy Soutter
- SELF-PUBLISHED BOOKS:
Do Brumbies Dream In Red?
Tom Goldner
Vale
Robert Darch
A Tale of One City
Daniel Stier
When Strawberries Will Grow On Trees, I Will Kiss U
Nicholas Polli
Flowers
Zara Carpenter
Lost Summer
Alys Tomlinson
Reviewed by Colin Pantall
- THE VIEW FROM ELSEWHERE:
Tanvir Bush