The Sound of Photography

Mark Neville

Frank Watson’s guest this week is Mark Neville, an internationally recognised photographer who has helped to redefine documentary practice. He works with and often lives with communities in a collaborative process, drawing communities together to bring about direct practical and political benefits to his subjects. He sums up his work as residing between art, activism and documentary. Since 2020 Mark has lived and worked in Ukraine and he is best known for his book  Stop Tanks with Books published in 2022. It ‘s this book and his Humanitarian work in Ukraine that will be discussed  via Zoom from his base in Ukraine.

Website: www.markneville.com

Susan Bright

Susan Bright is a curator. Her best-known exhibitions include ‘How We Are’ which was the first exhibition of British Photography shown at Tate in 2007. ‘Home Truths’ a collaboration between The Photographers’ Gallery, The Foundling Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago in 2013, and a series of solo exhibitions for PhotoESPANA as Guest Curator in 2019. She will speak about her Book Feast For the Eyes: The Story of Food in Photography. WEBSITE: susanbright.net

Gemunu De Silva

Gemunu is a filmmaker and an activist who has been investigating and documenting animal rights abuses since the eighties. He directed several documentaries for national television on animal issues in the early 1990’s before working for a couple of leading animal protection charities. In 2006, Gemunu co-founded Tracks Investigations. An ethical investigation agency undertaking projects for animal protection groups around the globe. To date, Tracks have completed over 285 investigative film projects for 40 animal groups in 58 countries. For the past three and half decades, Gemunu has been documenting the (often hidden) lives of animals we use for Food, Fashion, Entertainment & Research. His images have been a catalyst for social change and have changed laws, minds and improved the lives of millions of animals around the globe.

Richard West

Frank Watson’s guest this week is Richard West. Richard is an editor of Source photographic magazine. He will talk about the history of the magazine as it celebrates its 100th issue. He will also discuss some of the quirkier ideas, stories and portfolios that have become part of the magazine’s editorial policy.
Website: .http://www.source.ie

Julio Etchart

Frank Watson’s guest this week is Julio Etchart. Julio is an internationally recognised documentary photographer who has worked with UNICEF, War on Want and The British Council amongst others. His projects include working on the legacy of 500 years of colonialism in the Americas (The Forbidden Rainbow) and extensive work about the environment (The Four Elements).
He will be talking about his latest photographic project ‘Imagining Orwell’ that traces the time Orwell spent in Burma as an imperial police officer and his role as a volunteer soldier in theSpanish Civil War. Both experience leading to books (Burmese Days and Homage to Catalonia). www.julioetchart.com

Vincent McEvoy

Frank Watson’s guest this week on the Sound of Photography is Vincent McEvoy.
Vincent will talk about his time working as an Art Director in Advertising and the Record industry between the 1960’s and 1980’s as well as his experiences of working with photographers who supplied the commercial imagery of the time. He will also talk about his friendship with Andy Warhol. http://wwwlittlehouseofrock.com

Claire Strand

Frank Watson’s guest this week on the Sound of Photography is Clare Strand. Clare is one of the nominee’s for this year’s Deutsche Borse Photography Foundation Prize and will talk about her work ‘The Discrete Channel with Noise’ project showing at the Photographers’ Gallery. She will also talk about her interests in technology, machines and communication.

Max Leonard

Frank Watson’s guest this week is Max Leonard (https://twitter.com/m_xl) – a writer concentrating on cycling and mountains, history and culture. Max talks about his latest photographic book, The Rough Stuff Fellowship Archive, the story of the oldest off-road cycling club and Bunker Research (the hidden history of Modernism in the French mountains). In 2016 he set up Isola Press (https://www.isolapress.com/), in part as an outlet for a text-image project with photographer Camille McMillan. Isola Press makes ‘adventures in illustrated books’. The Press works with writers, photographers and archives.

George Selley

This week’s  guest  on The Sound of Photography is George Selley. George will talk about his recently published book The Study of Assassination which deals with the CIA, Guatemala and Bananas.  The title of the book originates from released material by the CIA in 1997 that involved assisting mercenaries in overthrowing the elected government in the 1950’s. The book combines photomontage with pages of the original documents and archival press images of the time. https://georgeselley.com.

John Riddy

Frank’s guest this week is John Riddy (http://www.johnriddy.net/). John talks about his recent publication, ‘Photographs’ published by Steidl. The book covers eleven projects and almost thirty years of work. The publication relates to a retrospective exhibition held at the De Pont Museum, Holland in 2019. He lives and works in London and has shown with The Frith Street Gallery since 1993. His work has been internationally exhibited including in this country, solo exhibitions at Camden Arts Centre and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Alan Ward

Frank’s guest this week is Alan Ward – Manchester based artist, designer and collaborator. His exhibition and book titled Photographs from Another Place is the culmination of a long-term photographic research project based around a collection of re-discovered 1920s glass negatives purchased from eBay. The exhibition in on at the Williamson Art Gallery & Museum (https://williamsonartgallery.org/), Wirral until February 2020. Alan also runs Axis Graphic Design Ltd, (http://www.axisgraphicdesign.co.uk/) known for its work in the arts and cultural sector.

Neil Drabble

This week: Frank’s guest is Neil Drabble (http://www.neildrabble.com/), discussing his new publication Book of Roy, an in-depth photographic portrait of Roy Dow, an American adolescent, reflecting upon his rite of passage from the age of thirteen to twenty one. Neil specialises in editorial and portrait photography and has worked for major publications including American Vogue, Tatler and GQ. His work is part of numerous major museum and private collections. He is also the Media Lab Programme Director at Ravensbourne University.

Monica Bohm-Duchen

Frank’s guest this week is Monica Bohm-Duchen, an independent curator, writer and lecturer at Birkbeck College who has worked for Tate, The Royal Academy of Arts, Sotheby’s Institute of Art and The Courtauld Institute of Art. She discusses her role as Creative Director of Insiders/Outsiders (https://insidersoutsidersfestival.org/), a nationwide arts festival celebrating refugees from Nazi Europe and their contribution to British culture, taking place from March 2019 to March 2020. Monica will also talk about photographers John Heartfield, Edith Tudor Hart and Gerty Simon who are part of the festival.

Grace Lau

This week, Frank’s guest is the photographer Grace Lau (http://gracelau.co.uk/). Grace talks about her latest book Portraits in a Chinese Studio. The book is a result of setting up a portable studio in Hastings seafront and inviting locals and day-trippers to pose against a painted backdrop. She also discusses her 1980s project Adults in Wonderland which examined sex clubs in London.

Mitra Tabrizian

Frank’s guest this week is Mitra Tabrizian (http://mitratabrizian.com/), Iranian-British award-winning artist and filmmaker. Her photographic work has been exhibited and published widely and is represented in major collections internationally, and she was selected as one of the Royal Photographic Society’s Hundred Heroines: Celebrating Women in Photography Today (2018). Her critically acclaimed debut feature Gholam was released in cinemas in the UK in 2018. Mitra will talk about her most recent film The Insider and her new book Off-Screen, published this autumn.

Jamie Atherton

Frank’s guest this week is Jamie Atherton. Jamie is the publisher and editor of Failed States (https://failedstates.xyz/), a periodical that deals with ‘indeterminate geographies’. Each issue since 2016 takes a theme (Island, Suburbia, Refuge) and contains contributions from artists, writers, and academics. He is also an artist who works across a range of media.

Patrick Fry

This week Frank talks with Patrick Fry about a book he has published entitled Brick Index. He will be speaking about his and others fascination for the world of bricks, the history and collection of this overlooked subject as well as the intricacies of photographing them. Patrick is an independent publisher and graphic designer making books from unexpected or overlooked archives and collections at www.centrecentre.co.uk.

Marketa Luskacova

This week: Markéta Luskačová talks about her recent publication, By the Sea (RRB Photobooks 2019) as well as other photographic projects. She is best known for her work on Pilgrimages in Slovakia and projects on London Street musicians and street markets. Her photographs have been the subject of over 40 international solo exhibitions. You can see her work on her website http://www.marketaluskacova.com.

Roz Mortimer

In this first show in a new series, Frank talks to Roz Mortimer (https://wonder-dog.co.uk/) about her new feature film The Deathless Woman (https://thedeathlesswoman.com/) which has its world premiere at The London Film Festival. Roz’s work focuses on expanded forms of documentary across film, photography and writing. She began working with moving image in 1995 and since then her award-winning films have been exhibited widely around the world in cinemas, galleries, film festivals, online and on television.

Mike Seaborne

This week’s guest is Mike Seaborne. Mike is a former Curator of Photographs at the Museum of London and a practising photographer. He will be talking about his work photographing the Isle of Dogs in the 1980s, published last year by Hoxton Mini Press in the book The Isle of Dogs Before the Big Money, and other projects related to the River Thames. He will also discuss issues around creating and maintaining photographic archives and the impact of digital technologies upon archival systems.

mikeseaborne.co.uk