Referring to the ubiquity of photography, great British photographer, Paul Graham asks: “But if it’s everywhere and all the time, and so easy to make, then what’s of value? Which pictures matter?”
Photography has once again had to square up to its purpose and position in the art world given the onslaught of the digital revolution, and Photoworks director, Emma Morris, points this out in her blog post introducing the Brighton Photo Biennial 2012.
Amidst the slew of imagery that is available, this year’s extensively researched festival has opted to focus on photography and the politics of space.
The question of how public space is constructed, controlled or challenged, notably through photography’s role as both a tool and a process, underpins BPB12, while the tensions between self and society, how we understand the world and who has the authority to teach us, emerge as key themes and ideas.
Its aim is to provide ‘a critical space to think about relationships between the political occupation of physical sites and the production and dissemination of images.’
“The title, ‘Agents of Change’, is taken from an article by Sandra Marie Nurse,” explains co-curator Ben Burbridge. “Here it refers to the need to put one’s body on the line, to physically contest space in order to bring about social and political change.”
Including work by established names such as Trevor Paglen, Edmund Clark, Omer Fest, Jason Larkin, Julian Germain, Corinne Silva and Thomson & Craighead, alongside amateur photography, grassroots activism and media spectacle, the festival contains over thirteen exhibitions and public interventions as well as a packed programme of talks, tours and workshops.
The Brighton Photo Biennial runs from 6 October – 4 November 2012.
For more information go to www.bpb.org.uk
