Curated by the Centre for British Photography for the Ben Uri Gallery and Museum, Uncharted Streets: Photographers from the Hyman Collection presents five photographers who were born outside the UK but have been central to the development of photography in Britain over the last century. The title alludes to William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience and T. S. Elliot’s The Wasteland. However, it inverts their charter’d streets to suggest the role of those from outside in charting new territories, providing new perspectives and taking British photography in new directions.
The exhibition begins with the pioneering work of Kurt Hutton (b. Germany 1893) and Bill Brandt (b. Germany, 1904). Each photographer played a pivotal role in bringing European ideas into British culture and stimulated British photographic publications such as Lilliput and Picture Post magazine. It then spotlights the work of Edith Tudor-Hart (b. Vienna, 1908) who used photography as a vehicle for social change. The exhibition also showcases two of the most eminent figures in contemporary British photography: Charlie Phillips (b, Jamaica, 1944) is one of the most celebrated documenters of the African-Caribbean community in London, and Markéta Luskačová (b. Czechoslovakia, 1944), whose work has been so influential to British photography since the early 1970s.
This is a very rare opportunity to see vintage prints by these five photographers.
The exhibition also includes selected publications of the period, from major books to the pages of important magazines such as Lilliput and Picture Post.
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Ben Uri Gallery, 108A Boundary Road, NW8 ORH (17January - 8 March 2024).
Editors Notes
THE HYMAN COLLECTION supports photographers working in Britain and is one of the most significant collections of British Photography in the world. The collection began in 1996 and consists of over three thousand artworks with a focus on photography in Britain. The collection ranges from conceptual artists working in photography to documentary photographers, and encompasses historic as well as contemporary photographs. The collection is committed to diversity and to supporting women in photography.
BEN URI has focused for the last 20 years on the study and recording of the Jewish, Refugee and Immigrant contribution to British visual culture since 1900, via the Ben Uri Research Unit (buru.org.uk), now incorporating diaspora-artists.net. In 2018 it made its seismic shift to becoming a digital-led institution, launching the first full scale virtual museum and research centre, which continues to be supported by its physical gallery, widening both its reach and visitor engagement.
For further information please contact Sarah MacDougall at sarahm@benuri.org
