Tag Archives: Photographers' Gallery

The Photographers’ Gallery – London

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The Photographers’ Gallery, in the Soho Photography Quarter in London, is a brand new space to me. In case it might be to you, here’s a little more about its history.

The gallery opened in 1971 in Covent Garden, and was the first space in the UK dedicated solely to photography and photographers. The founder was Sue Davies OBE (1933 -2020) who, for many years, played a crucial role in building the community of artists and enthusiasts around the gallery, and in raising money to support the exhibitions. As the gallery grew so did awareness of the power of photography. Sue Davies was the director until 1991.

In 2008 the gallery moved from Covent Garden, and after a bit of re-arrangement, opened in its new building in Ramillies Street in 2012. The area around it is now known as the Soho Photography Quarter (just off Oxford Street). I loved the feel of the area, and of the gallery as soon as I stepped into it.

Before my visit I did a little research into the gallery. I found this under Visitor Information on its website:

“Photography, curiosity, and respect for people’s health and safety is encouraged everywhere”

I look forward to visiting again.

Here is a link to an article about Sue Davies OBE, including a short audio

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023

A visit to the Chris Killip Retrospective at the Photographers’ Gallery, London

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‘Brian Magor, baby Joanne Ewens, Tanya David and unidentified youth, 1982’ (photographed by Chris Killip)

I saw this exhibition thanks to an invitation from a friend. It is the most moving collection of photographs I have ever seen.

Prior to the invitation I had never heard of Chris Killip or the Photographers’ Gallery. Both were such a surprise, and so worth the trip.

Chris Killip, born in 1946 on the Isle of Man, has taken the most moving, intimate photographs of corners of society cut adrift by the pace of change. The Photographers’ Gallery has put together a retrospective, showing pictures from the different locations. Many of the images in this exhibition have been taken on the Isle of Man, in Tyneside, and on the Northumbrian coast, capturing families and individuals living lives they knew, while the world changed around them. I found each shot deeply respectful and revealing. I absolutely loved it.

From the mid-1990s, until 2017, Chris Killip was a professor emeritus in the department of visual and environmental studies at Harvard. He died in the United States in 2020.

If you get the chance to visit, the exhibition is on at the Photographers’ Gallery, until Sunday 19 February 2023.

This link is to an interview with Chris Killip. In places it is quite hard to hear, but it does have an excellent story at its heart.

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023