A weekend stuffed with awesome photography, exhibitions, books, talks and great conversations.
Last weekend I visited the second edition of the Photo London Fair that took place at Somerset House next to the river Thames from 19. – 22. May 2016. The Photo London weekend started for me with a talk by the British photographer Martin Parr, who is well known for his colorful and ironic portraits of British society. Parr isn’t only a photographer, he is a curator, collector and author as well, but when he introduces himself, he describes himself as an entertainer. So you can imagine a talk by Martin Parr is everything else than boring. After the talk he signed books in front of his Real Food Van where you can try the food of his new photobook Real Food (the pumpkin and goats cheese pie was delicious!)
Martin Parr Real Food Van
Saturday was dedicated to visit the uncountable exhibitions of the fair. The Fair is so huge that one day is hardly enough to see everything (especially because it was open from 12 – 6pm only). Nevertheless I did all of the fair in one day because my todo list for the weekend was enormous. Almost a hundred exhibitors showed their best works from vintage prints of the greatest photographers to young and contemporary artists. You can find the most famous and iconic pictures that you know from the books at the fair and you can actually buy them (well if you can afford them). In my opinion it’s a great characteristic of photography, that it’s usually produced in editions and therefore more approachable.
Don McCullin
In the mezzanine of Somerset house Hamiltons Gallery showed an atmospherically curated solo exhibition of the British photo journalist Don McCullin who is famous for his documentation of disasters and wars. The basement housed two other solo shows, Sergey Chilikov ‘Photoprovocations’ and Craig Horsefield ‘Twelve’ and also a small exhibition of awarded photobooks.
Sergey Chilikov Photoprovocations
I really enjoyed the fair and will definitely come back next year. My recommendation: If you want to see all of the fair and want to have some time to talk to gallerists and artists plan at least two days for the fair. It also is a great place to network if you are in the art photography business.