Norman McBeath at the British Library

That great Scot Norman McBeath has alerted us to the aquisition of a body of work he has completed with the poet Robert Crawford. This is from The British Library website 

Photogravure © Norman McBeath

The British Library is delighted to announce it has acquired the first English verse translation of Crichton’s Latin poem. The book is a new collaboration between the poet and academic Robert Crawford and the photographer and printmaker Norman McBeath. The source of the text is taken from the two volume anthology of Scottish-Latin poetry Delitiae Poetarum Scotorum (1637), a copy of which is held at the Library at shelfmark 1213.a.7. Robert Crawford’s impressive translation will hopefully generate wider interest in this sadly neglected poem. The poem is accompanied by eight evocative photogravures by Norman McBeath which perfectly capture the enigma and splendour of that fascinating city.

Venice is published by the Edinburgh based Easel Press in an edition of twenty copies and will be available to consult in the Library’s reading rooms shortly.

– See more at here

London Festival of Photography June 2012

In June 2012, London’s most celebrated venues (Museum of London, British Library, British Museum, Tate Modern, the V&A and more…) will play host to a world-class, city-wide celebration of photography as the London Festival of Photography returns for its second year.

Encompassing street, documentary and conceptual photography, the festival includes 18 exhibitions and 30 satellite events including workshops, talks and screenings.

Exhibitions will vary in style and format, presenting a comprehensive mixture of disciplines with work from both established and emerging photographers. Content will be curated around the theme, Inside Out: Reflections on the Public and the Private.

The festival opens to the public on 1 June 2012 (many exhibitions are open during the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee bank holiday weekend 2, 3, 4 & 5 June)

The Great British Public – Various

The New Forest and Hampshire County Show 2004 Photograph: Arnhel de Serra

Dates: 01 June to 24 June 2012
Venue: Dog Eared Gallery
Address: 25-28 Field Street, London, WC1 X9DA
Disabled Access: This event DOES NOT have wheelchair access
Map: View
Opening Times: 10am-6pm, 7 days per week. OPEN bank holidays 4 & 5 June.
Price: £6.50

Embracing the spirit of patriotism with the upcoming Olympics and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, this show will present images from photographers working the length and breadth of the British Isles documenting the daily life, work and rituals of the British in their many incarnations.mage © Nick Cunard

More about this exhibition here

The Gaddafi Archives – Libya Before the Arab Spring

Dates: 21 June to 29 June 2012
Venue: Slade Research Centre (The Warburg Institute – entrance to the left of the main entrance)
Address: Woburn Square, London, WC1H 0AB
Disabled Access: This event has wheelchair access
Map: View
Opening Times: 10am-10pm, 7 days per week
Price: £7.50 (£5 WITH AN OPEN CITY TICKET)

PLEASE NOTE NEW EXHIBITION DATES: Thur 21 to Fri 29 June – 9 days only*
Through carefully collated photographs, documents, artefacts and videos this exhibition will shed light on the recent history of Libya, starting with the reign of King Idris and spanning the regime of Colonel Gaddafi. The exhibition will highlight photography’s role in recording and documenting an important period in Libya’s history that we can only now begin to truly understand. Pictures and documents from state intelligence buildings and destroyed Gaddafi residences that were found by Human Rights Watch’s emergencies director Peter Bouckaert, and recorded and photographed at the sites, will be presented. All original materials were left where they were found after being photographed or have been since been returned to the National Transition Council in Libya.

This archive is unique and rare and contains over 1,000 images across a wide range of topics. King Idris is seen welcoming a young Queen Elizabeth II in 1954 on her second foreign trip as monarch, the early Gaddafi years vividly show a strong relationship between Colonel Gaddafi and his hero President Nasser of Egypt.

MORE about this exhibition here

Colonel Gaddafi and Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the Soviet Union, holding hands in Moscow, April 27th, 1981. (c) 2011 Michael Christopher Brown for Human Rights Watch

Beneath the Surface – Steve Bloom

Dates: 01 June to 28 June 2012
Venue: Guardian Gallery (Kings Place)
Address: Guardian News & Media, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London, N1 9GU
Disabled Access: This event has wheelchair access
Map: View
Opening Times: 10am-6pm, 7 days per week. OPEN bank holidays 4 & 5 June.
Price: FREE

An exhibition of Steve Bloom’s photographs from the mid 1970’s, capturing a critical moment in the history of apartheid-era South Africa. Some of these images are being shown for the first time, while others have not been seen since they were first exhibited internationally three decades ago.  MORE about this exhibition here

STEVE BIKO

Stephen Biko (18 Dec 1946 – 12 Sep 1977) was an anti-apartheid activist in South Africa in the 1960s and 1970s, arguably the most dynamic political leader of his time. A student leader, he later founded the Black Consciousness Movement which would empower and mobilise much of the urban black population into a state of self awareness and defiant protest. He was constantly under police surveillance, arrested and banned resulting in his murder in police detention in 1977.

There are many more exhibitions and activities arranged during this festival of photography, more information here

Related Links

The Guardian

foto8

Blurb Books