Exhibiting Photography

A Practical Guide to Displaying Your Work

Shirley Read

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781136102530
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Digital Media

You have the camera, you have the skills, and you have the pictures. Now what? Author Shirley Read expertly leads you through the world of exhibiting your photography one minute detail at a time. From finding a space and designing the exhibition to actually constructing a show and publicizing yourself, every aspect of exhibiting your photography is touched upon and clarified with ample detail, anecdotes, and real life case studies. In this new and expanded second edition, Shirley Read further illuminates the world of social networking, exhibiting, and selling photography online so your work is always shown in the best light.

Packed with photos of internationally successful exhibitions, check lists, and invaluable advice, this essential reference guide will help amateur and professional photographers alike successfully showcase their bodies of work with confidence and finesse.

CHAPTER 1

Thinking about Exhibiting

The Salon Photo Prize at Matt Roberts Project Space, Vyner Street, East London. Image © Georgina McNamara www.georginamcnamara.com.

Exhibitions have become the medium through which most art becomes known. Not only have the number and range of exhibitions increased dramatically in recent years but museums and art galleries such as the Tate in London and the Whitney in New York now display their permanent collections as a series of temporary exhibitions. Exhibitions are the primary site of exchange in the political economy of art, where signification is constructed, maintained and occasionally deconstructed. Part spectacle, part socio-historical event, part structuring device, exhibitions—especially exhibitions of contemporary art—establish and administer the cultural meanings of art.

From Thinking about Exhibitions (Greenberg et al., 1996)

In the 1970s, the photography world began to evolve quickly: major museum exhibitions, the teaching of the history of photography, the incorporation of photography into art historical texts and general art periodicals, and the success of the international auction houses all enhanced and contributed to the interest in collecting photography.

From Inside the Photograph (Bunnell, 2006)

In 1950 a professional photograph was typically a 10 × 8 in (25 × 20 cm) black and white print that was passed to a designer and then a printer to appear in a magazine. It was then discarded, filed, or forgotten. In 1980 a professional photograph might also be a handsome work of graphic art, generally twice the size of its predecessor. It might be made by hand, in one of a variety of craft processes, expressly for exhibition in and preservation by museums. It was usually made to last: printing was to archival standards. Quite frequently it was issued in a signed and strictly limited edition.

Mark Haworth-Booth, from Photography: An Independent Art

I have never been interested in exhibitions because I think in a way you tend to be preaching to the converted. And I’ve always really been interested in the printed page because that way you get to more people with what you’re trying to say and the sort of photography I do is trying to say something about people to other people that might just influence them—I’m not trying to change the world but it might affect the way they’re thinking. But because of the downturn in the mag market if you want to be seen and get assignments one of the few ways now of having people see your work is to have exhibitions because who sees anything in the magazines?

Ian Berry, Magnum photographer, National Sound Archive interview

My biggest advice would be to take the pictures you want to take. Don’t think about the marketplace, what sells or what an editor might say. And don’t think about style. It’s all bullshit and surface stuff. Style happens.

David LaChapelle, photographer

While historically the importance of exhibiting for photographers has shifted and changed, over the years exhibition has, arguably, never been more crucial to the medium than it is today. Many photographers leave college with their sights fixed firmly on an exhibiting career and for many photographers an exhibition is the desired outcome of any piece of work. But it is worth considering what this might mean, when and how photography belongs in the gallery and museum, how it can adapt itself to these institutions, what alternatives there might be and what role the photographer plays in bringing their work to its audience. In making work the photographer may or may not think about exhibiting but the very chameleon qualities of photography makes it crucial that the photographer consider the context in which their work is shown. So we start by thinking about what it means to exhibit photography.

What is an exhibition?

There are very many situations in which photographs are viewed that can come under the term exhibition. In this I include:

• any conventional exhibition space (which can include commercial and publicly and privately funded galleries and museums)

• a variety of other spaces where work is sometimes shown (such as community centers, open studios, cafes, bars, restaurants, libraries, cinema and theater foyers, schools, colleges, churches, and streets)

• commissioned public art (which can be permanent pieces commissioned especially for public buildings such as hospitals and government offices or more temporary sites and situations such as hoardings, projections, performances)

The Royal Geographic Society show mountaineering photographs from their archives at Hoopers Gallery, 2011. Image © David Scull, courtesy of Hoopers Gallery.

Fotomuseum Den Haag, Nederlands. Image © Karin Bareman.

• people’s homes (through sales and loans)

• online galleries, social networking, and websites

• temporary spaces or events (such as photo fairs and festivals, talks, workshops, and conferences)

• photographic commissions and competitions, which result in an exhibition

• printed exhibition—related materials (such as catalogues and gallery guides, self-published books, and press images)

• CDs

It may seem surprising that this list includes such outlets as speaking engagements and sending out press prints or CDs, but it is useful to recognize that these are exhibition opportunities of a particular kind. They are a time when, just as in a gallery, the photographer’s work is being seen by a new audience and quite possibly without the photographer’s presence and input to the viewing process. So the work has to stand by itself and will be assessed accordingly.

The important thing for the photographer is that he or she needs to be sure that their work can be presented well in any context, that appropriate information is available, and that the work will be treated with respect in any situation. Press photos and CDs, for example, should always have detailed information attached and include the name and contact details of the photographer and the title and date of the work. Contact information should be included in the metadata on all digital files. If the photographer sells work or gives or exchanges it with friends or colleagues, it should have the same information and substandard prints should never go out of the work space even as press prints or gifts.

The myths of exhibiting

I completed a major piece of work and then sent out the usual promotional information to curators and editors. Much to my dismay I heard nothing for over a year—then out of the blue, in the space of a fortnight, I received exhibition offers from two curators. My advice to photographers is not to give up or lose confidence in the work. Don’t put it away and forget it!

Grace Lau, photographer

So what do we expect from an exhibition? It is useful to think about this before starting out on what can be an all consuming process. First-time exhibitors in particular tend to have several, sometimes contradictory, preconceptions about the process of exhibiting their work. These can be misleading and can lead the exhibitor to build up unrealistic expectations of an exhibition with the inevitable disappointing result.

The first of these misconceptions is that exhibiting is either a simple and straightforward or a mysterious and bewildering process. Neither is true. Organizing an exhibition does require specialized skills but most of the skills involved can be understood and learned by any photographer. Acquiring some experience and skill in exhibiting will make the process more rewarding and mean the photographer is not overwhelmed by the numerous, and sometimes unexpected, deadlines and tasks. It can also mean that working with a curator becomes a sharing of ideas and decisions rather than a process in which the curator has always to take the lead throughout.

The second misconception is that the rewards of exhibiting will be instantaneous and exciting. Photographers frequently hope that their first show will make them a star overnight or, at the very least, bring them a great deal of critical attention. Perhaps because the private view or artist’s reception is an absolute deadline—which feels similar in its drama to an opening night at the theater—photographers expect the same sort of applause and critical response. Unfortunately, although the build-up and the tension may feel the same as in the theatre, the response may be very much slower in coming. New plays are often reviewed overnight, whereas new exhibitions may be reviewed only weeks later or even after the exhibition has finished. As a result, the photographer may be disappointed by what seems a tepid response to his or her work.

It helps, then, to be realistic about expectations and to recognize that an exhibition is a rewarding process in a number of very different ways, which may take time to come to fruition. It is equally useful to understand that the process, especially for first-time exhibitors, can be adrenaline-fueled and that exhibitors may feel exhausted and deflated for a few days or weeks until their creative energy kicks in again. The experienced exhibitor may either get used to this creative low or may need to make a habit of arranging a break from work immediately after an exhibition opening.

The third myth is that exhibition sales are a verdict on the work’s intrinsic merit. As a colleague said to me, ‘It was difficult to ignore the presence—or worse, absence—of those red dots and not feel competitive angst.’ Over the last decade, as photography has become more popular and as sales through galleries and auction houses have boomed, selling has come to be seen as a marker of photographic excellence and students encouraged to develop a signature style, in part to make the work more marketable. This goes hand in hand with a celebrity culture in which the press is often as interested in the artist as the work. In fact, of course, people buy photographs for many reasons—from their investment value to coordinating an image with a domestic colour scheme—and the artist is well advised to keep a level of detachment from the opinions of the marketplace. ‘Difficult,’ experimental, or very personal work may not sell at all. At the end of the day, a real sense of the success or failure of the work can only come from the artist themself and from a trusted group of colleagues, critics, and curators.

Reasons to exhibit

Most photographers take it for granted that an exhibition is a desirable outcome for a photographic project, without examining their reasons in any depth. There are, however, a number of quite different reasons to exhibit. Not all of them will be true of every exhibition prospect, and it is useful to be able to recognize which ones apply in order to evaluate what each exhibition does or does not offer and to be realistic about the rewards of exhibiting.

Reasons to exhibit include:

• getting the work seen

This is the most obvious reason to exhibit. Photographs are taken to communicate, and they cannot do so if they never leave the photographer’s work space.

• selling photographs

This is important for more reasons than the obvious one. Selling work is one way of ensuring that the photographs are in circulation and continue to be seen after the period of the exhibition. An exhibition in which a photographer sells work will also tell the photographer what sort of images people buy and which are popular. There can be a danger in this: if a photographer lets the knowledge of what sells drive his or her work, it can make it hard to take risks, to experiment, or develop new ideas. Some galleries will also, and for obvious reasons, encourage their artists to focus on making work which sells and lack interest in other areas of their work. So it is useful for most photographers to keep a level of detachment from the selling process and recognise when the work is starting to feel stale and when they need to develop in a new direction rather than produce more of the same—showing work which does not sell can be just as important as showing work which does.

• it’s a career marking point—that is, photographers need to be seen to be showing their work

Sian Bonnell in Domestic Interiors: Regency Town House, in Hove, England. Image © George Meyrick.

An exhibition shows that a photographer is a professional and serious about his or her work. It is, perhaps, the equivalent of producing an annual report or taking an exam and demonstrates, both to the exhibitor and to the worlds of photography and business that the photographer is on track.

The exhibition also appears on the photographer’s c.v. or résumé, and in some ways this can be as important as the exhibition itself. A good track record of exhibiting is crucial to the photographer who wants to build an exhibiting career and is a pedigree that guarantees the work. When looking at a portfolio, any major gallery director or curator will probably also want to see the photographer’s exhibiting c.v. or résumé and the strength or weakness of this may well influence the decision to offer an exhibition.

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