The Sound of Photography

Ian Walker and Hazel Donkin

The guests on this week’s episode of The Sound of Photography are Ian Walker and Hazel Donkin. They will  be speaking about the book they have published entitled Frederick Sommer: A World of Bonds (Routledge 2026). The book deals with the life and work of the American artist Frederick Sommer. Sommer though now largely known for his photography work defied categorisation making work that involved collage, sculpture and drawing. He was associated with Max Ernst, Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray moving between Formalism, Abstraction, Documentary and Conceptual methods of working.

Zelda Cheatle

Zelda Cheatle is the guest on The Sound of Photography. Zelda is a Curator,Editor,Lecturer and Consultant. She began her career at The Photographer’s Gallery working with British and International photographers before going onto opening her own gallery. More recently she has worked as a consultant, curating, reviewing and assessing photography on an International basis. In this show she will be speaking  about Lee Miller, David George and Seamus Murphy as well as the future of Photomonth 25. www.zeldacheatle.com

Shirley Read

Frank Watson’s guest on The Sound of Photography is Shirley Read. Shirley is a Curator,Writer,Teacher and Photographic Historian. She has previously worked with Camerawork and initiatiated The National Conference of Socialist Photography. As an independent curator and historian, Shirley has developed a wide range of exhibitions including  a major retrospective of Jo Spence. Over the last three decades she has worked with The British Library undertaking extended interviews with many leading U.K. photographers for the Oral History of British Photography Sound Archive. She will be speaking about editing a book about the life of Edith Tudor Hart published by Museumsetc in 2025.

Joanna Pocock

Frank Watson’s guest on The Sound of Photography is Joanna Pocock. Joanna is an author, photographer and teacher. Her first book Surrender is a hybrid travel memoir about  The American West which won the 2018 Fitzcaraldo Essay Prize. Her following book Greyhound,  about two road trips across  the U.S.came out last summer again published by Fitzcaraldo. Her writing has appeared in the New Statesman, The TLS, and Guardian U.S. She also teaches Creative Writing At the U.A.L.

 

Lawrence Jackson

Lawrence Jackson is the guest on The Sound of Photography. Lawrence is a filmmaker, screenwriter and teacher. He has worked as a BBC radio producer and is now a lecturer in film practice at the University of  Kent. He will be talking about his book Uncanny Landscapes in 21st Century British Cinema:Pestilence in the Ditch. The book explores  the way The landscape is employed  in the films of Andrea Arnold, Shane Meadows, Clio Barnard and Ben Wheatley.

Zula Rabikowska

Zual Rabikowska is Frank Watson’s guest on The Sound of Photography.Zula is a photographer and visual artist whose projects explore migration, gender, womanhood and LGBTQI communities with a focus on Central and E. Europe. Her work emphasises and challenges conventional story telling. Zula’s work has been shown in London,Belfast,Sweden, Germany and China. www.zulara.co.uk

Jenny Lewis

Frank Watson’s guest on The Sound of Photography is Jenny Lewis. Jenny is a portrait photographer and her work is rooted in Hackney.She has published  3 monographs: One Day Young, Hackney Studios and One Hundred Years. Jenny  has exhibited nationally and internationally including The National Portrait Gallery, The Open Eye Gallery and Photo 22 in Melbourne. Her work has been collected by The National Portrait Gallery,The Wellcome Institute and The Pallant House Collection.   See : www.jennylewis.net

Mandy Williams

Frank Watson’s guest on The Sound of Photography is Mandy Williams.Mandy is a London based artist working with photography and video. After working and exhibiting work in Canada she returned to London in 2021. There she did an M.A. in Photography. Her work is concerned with issues around perceptions of landscape. Mandy has exhibited nationally and internationally and her work is held in public collections including University of Arts, London, Canadian Musueum of Contemporary Photography,Ottawa and UK Parliament Art Collection. www.mandywilliams.com

James Hyman

Frank Watson’s guest on The Sound of Photography is James Hyman. James is the Director of The Centre of British Photography. He will be talking about his early interest in photography and collecting British photographers’ work. He will reflect on the setting up of The Centre with his wife, Claire in Jermyn St., London. He will also speak about the exhibitions, grants and mentoring that has been part of The Centre. http://www.britishphotography.org

Gareth Gardner

Frank Watson’s guest on The Sound of Photography is Gareth Gardner. Gareth is a photographer, journalist, gallerist  and curator. He specializes in Architecture and the Built Environment. He works with architects, designers,P.R consultants and public organisations. In 2019 he opened the Gareth Gardner Gallery in Deptford . Recent projects include Route Book based on Ian Nairn’s travels in England in the 1950’s. More recently he has curated  On the Hedge at the RHS, Wisley, Surrey. A show about hedges and topiary. See www.garethgardner.com

Zed Nelson

This week’s guest on The Sound of Photography is Zed Nelson. Zed is a documentary photographer and filmmaker based in London. Zed is an internationally known for his long term projects that explore contemporary society. He has published four books; Gun Nation, Love Me, A Portrait Of Hackney  and his most recent The Anthropocene Illusion. He has exhibited worldwide including one man shows in London, Stockholm and New York.

 

 

Tom Hunter and Zelda Cheatle

This week on The Sound of Photography the guests are Zelda Cheatle and Tom Hunter. They will discuss this year’s East London Photomonth Festival and run through the many exhibitions and events happening during Photomonth (2nd October- 3rd November 2025). Artists such as Joy Gregory, Zed Nelson, Arthur Tress, Angela Tress, Angela Chalmers, Wolfgang Tillmans, Tom Hunter and Frank Watson will be part of the festival which also includes talks, workshops and a symposium on the theme of Longing.

James Berrington

Frank Watson’s guest is James Berrington. James is an artist whose practice involves photography, printmaking, sound and moving image.

He has exhibited widely including being selected for Bloomsbury New Contemporaries in 2016.His work has been collected for the UCL East Public Art Collection. Before becoming an artist James was a National Policy Expert in Social Housing.

The show will consider mental health and the role of photography and  The Panacea Society, a group of millenarian women who set up their own religious group.

His website: www.jamesberrington.co.uk

 

Daniel Homer

Frank Watson’s guest is Daniel Homer. Dan is a  film cameraman who has subsequently sidestepped into photography. His recent book ‘Route de la Belle Etoile’ is published by Gost (2024).

The book looks at the contribution of amateur astronomers to discoveries in the world of Astronomy. See website: www.danielstephenhomer.com.

The show will discuss the relationship of photography and astronomy.

Mark Sealy

My guest on The Sound of Photography is Mark Sealy.

Mark is Director of The Autograph Gallery and Professor of Photography – Rights and Representation at the University of the Arts, London College of Communication.

He is also a Curator and Cultural Historian. As an author, his publications include Decolonising The Camera: Photography in Racial Time (2019) and Photography:Race, Rights and Representation (2022)

 

Gerry Badger

Frank Watson’s guest is Gerry Badger.Gerry is a Photographer, Architect and Critic.

In 2007 he published The Genius of Photography  television series. In 2010 he published The Pleasures of Good Photography, an anthology of essays. He also coauthored The Photobook: A History Vol.1,2 & 3 with Martin Parr. Gerry will speak about his latest publication Best Face Forward: Some Thoughts on The Portrait Photograph published by Prestel (2024).

Frank Watson

This episode of The Sound of Photography is devoted  to music I have chosen in response to the guests having the freedom to choose their selections.(including Tortoise Mambo).

Liz Wells

The guest this week on The Sound of Photography is Liz Wells. Liz is an independent writer and curator. She is also an Emeritus Professor in Photographic Culture at the University of Plymouth.Her publications include Photography, Curation and Criticism: An Anthology (Routledge, 2022) and Land Matters: Landscape, Photography, Culture and Identity (Routledge, republished 2021).
Here recent curatorial work has included Sea, Sand and Soil – Plastics in Our Environment at a Festival in China, and Seedscapes : Future Proofing Nature, a touring exhibition in Britain 2020/1.
You can find her work at http://www.lizwellswriter-curator.co.uk

Peter Kennard

This week’s guest on the Sound of Photography is Peter Kennard. For the last 50 years Peter has been Britain’s leading and most prominent political artist. He is renowned for his reactionary photomontages attacking political systems, capitalist greed, war mongering countries around the world and more recently environmental catastrophe as the world begins to disintegrate from global warming and pollution.His work has appeared in national newspapers, on banners at protest marches and posters that have become part of the urban fabric.
He has also been a Professor of Political Art at the Royal College of Art. See his website for a range of publications of his work.
Peter  is currently showing a retrospective of his projects over the past 50 years entitled Archive of Dissent at the Whitechapel Gallery, London.
You can view his work at www.peterkennard.com

Chris Dorley Brown

This week’s guest on the Sound of Photography is Chris Dorley Brown.Chris is  known for his work on the London Borough of Hackney with particular emphasis on the street culture of the borough as well as its hospitals, tower blocks and local industries.
He has worked with the BBC, The Museum of London and the Wellcome Institute.
Chris has published numerous books with Hoxton Mini Press, both with his own work and the archives of other local photographers.
His latest book A History of the East End was recently published by Nouveau Palais.
His website: www.modrex.com