Surviving the Will of the Powerful
In the introduction to his book The Big Society: Snapshots of 21st Century Britain, photographer Si Barber notes that ‘The notion that humanity is subservient to the market is so huge and all-encompassing it appears to be part of the natural order.’ The fallout of this notion is made all too apparent in the photographs that follow, which manage to examine the everyday effects of the recession with equal parts outrage, compassion, warmth, and wry humour.
If you’re in Sheffield between November and January you’ll be able to see for yourself- Si has very kindly agreed to exhibit photographs from the book at Bank Street Arts. Below are just a few of the 40-odd images that we’re putting together for the show, which I’m very pleased to note will also include a number of new, previously unseen photographs:
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Si will be coming to Sheffield to do a Q&A session about The Big Society and there’ll be a series of related events to tie in with the show. Details are tbc, and the best way to find out about where and when and everything will be happening is to follow me on Twitter.
As well as being a timely piece of work given the recent unrest in England’s cities, The Big Society is also testament to one photographer’s determination to bring his vision to the wider world: not only has The Big Society been an enormously labour-intensive project for Si, he also produced and self-published the book that the exhibition is based on through his own Eye Ludicrous imprint. Click here to buy a copy for the outrageously decent price of 12 quid.
Follow Si on Twitter here and view his website here. You can also read an interview he gave about The Big Society here.
This entry was posted on 18/08/2011 by Andrew Conroy. It was filed under Bank Street Arts and was tagged with 10 downing street, bank street arts, conservative, David Cameron, documentary photography, Edward Hopper Gallery, enid blyton, Eye Ludicrous, FACT, ideology, King's Lynn, labour party conference, Look11 Photography Festival, Margaret Thatcher, no such thing as society, photography, photojournalism, politics, recession, riots, self-publishing, sheffield, Si Barber, society, The Big Society, twitter, Yorkshire.
The caravan also features on the cover of The Caravan Gallery’s “Is Britain Great?”. Definitely plan to come to see the show though
02/10/2011 at 9:17 pm
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