Open Ended

21 November  to  27 December 1996        Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 6.30pm       

New Work from Nine Contemporary Photographers

             Tom Blau Gallery
                    21 Queen Elizabeth Street
                           Butlers Wharf
                                  London  SE1 2PD

For the record, the nine photographers are :
Suki Best Mohini Chandra Denis Doran Sue Evans		Ann Jones Rosy Martin Bruce Thorndike Nick Waplington Lana Wong

All nine photographers have produced interesting work. Suki Best's On the Beach seeks to incite thought on "inner city surveillance cameras, and images of children". This was sparked by the James Bolger case, and tackles a complex theme which is not done justice through this one image.
I would have liked to have seen a series examining the issues in more depth. Do we see cameras as intrusive? Do we feel more secure as a result of their use? Or both of these? Who is using them? How does it affect those viewing the images? These are just some of the questions I would want raised....

Lana Wong's Shared Realities 1996 has images combined with slogans about women which were produced as part of a series for the last UN women's conference. The slogans are rather boring and have an old-style Stalinist ring to them.

Bruce Thorndike has four photographs displayed under the general title Newbury by-pass 1996. Newbury by-pass was the scene of great protests as the road-building destroyed a lot of woodland. Felled trees, a burnt-out car and a makeshift tent capture and relate something of the atmosphere.

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