A collection of iconic news photographs will go on display next month in a major new exhibition at Bath’s Victoria Art Gallery.
CHINA. Beijing. Tiananmen Square. 1989.
‘History through a Lens: Iconic Photographs from the Incite Project’ (25 February-10 May 2017), will feature more than 100 images that have changed public perception of world events.
The photographs have been selected from the Incite Project, a collection of issue-driven photographic prints motivated by current political and social concerns that are still within our power to correct. We are used to seeing these images in the press, accompanied by columns of text, but the Incite Project treats them as works of art.
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At the core of the collection are the classics of 20th-century photojournalism that have become visual markers of a moment in time – for example the assassination of JFK, a rare shot of the Normandy D-Day landing, Nelson Mandela in his cell on Robben Island, and the losses of life caused by 9:11 and overcrowded boats capsizing in the Mediterranean.
Photographers represented include Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Dorothea Lange, Don McCullin, Sebastiao Salgado and W. Eugene Smith.
The Incite Project is also motivated by a passion to support the photographers and artists currently making extraordinary images about contemporary issues. Thirty percent of the show consists of 21st-century prints, giving them and their makers a permanence they might otherwise lack.
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Councillor Patrick Anketell-Jones (Conservative, Lansdown), Cabinet Member for Economic Development at Bath & North East Somerset Council, said: “We are proud to be working with the Incite Project to stage this remarkable and thought-provoking exhibition, which local residents will be able to see for free with a Discovery Card.”
Incite is based in the UK and was started in 2012 by former photojournalist Harriet Logan and her husband. The collection is curated by Tristan Lund, formerly of the Michael Hoppen Gallery.
Exhibition tickets cost £4 for adults, £3.50 for concessions and are free for children
Lunchtime exhibition tours
Every Thursday, between 2 March to 27 April inclusive, 12.30-13.00, lunchtime exhibition tours will take place. They are free to Discovery Card and ticket holders.
Roving Reporters
Saturdays 4, 11, 18 & 25 March, 12.00-15.00
Students from Bath Spa University’s BA Acting programme convey the human stories behind the images. Let yourself be transported back in time to revisit how those key moments felt.
