BOP 21 is accompanied by a programme of talks across SAT 23 OCT and SUN 24 OCT, which will be held in the RPS auditorium.
The talks programme is curated around new work coming out, as well as to continue conversations around key issues. Giya Makondo-Wills will be discussing race, representation and de-colonisation in the photobook, and Trolley Books will be sharing their experiences of publishing and the photobook industry over the past 20 years, among many other artists who will be discussing their latest publications. Everyone attending the talks is welcome to join the conversations!
See below for a summary of the talks.
Talks are approximately 50 minutes apart from Trolley Books at 20, which will be approximately 1hr 30.
MPF and RPS members should use the discount code – MEMBERPRICE – at the checkout for member prices. Please do not purchase discounted tickets in the same transaction as other products.
Entry to the book fair is free, artist talks are ticketed.
SAT 23 OCT
10.00 / Kirsty Mackay
Kirsty McKay will be talking about her new self published photobook The Fish That Never Swam. Using Glasgow as a case study, this work looks at the root causes of the city’s poor health outcomes and lower life expectancy. Kirsty examines the relationship between the environment, government policy, historical trauma, and public health.
11.00 / Matt Stuart
Matt Stuart will talk about about his experience in photography, with a focus on relaunching Plague Press in 2020. Following his own two photobooks (All That Life Can Afford, published by Plague Press in 2016 and 2020, and Into The Fire, published by Setanta Books in 2020) Matt has now been working with other photographers to publish their work. In this talk Matt will share this journey and his experiences as both a photographer and publisher.
12.00 / Casey Orr
Casey Orr will discuss her new photobook Saturday Girl, published by Bluecoat Press 2021. In this new work, Casey has made portraits of young women in the UK, exploring undercurrents in culture and the unspoken ways in which we express our values, desires and tribe identities through style and self expression.
14.00 / Nick Hedges in conversation with Martin Parr
Nick Hedges – best known for his photographic work undertaken for the charity Shelter from 1968 to 1972 – will be in conversation with Martin Parr discussing ‘Can history inform the present?’. Nick will have a trilogy of books titled Home, Street and Work published by Bluecoat Press in early 2022.
15.00 / Marilyn Stafford
Marilyn Stafford will deliver an artist talk on her career in photography, which will be streamed into the RPS auditorium via Zoom. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, in 1925, Marilyn’s photographic career was launched in 1948 when she took a portrait of Albert Einstein. On a ferry crossing to England in 1949, Stafford had a chance encounter with Indian writer, Mulk Raj Anand who became Stafford’s life-long friend and introduced her to Henri Cartier-Bresson, who was to become her photography mentor in Paris.
16.00 / Charlie Phillips
Photographer Charlie Phillips will give an overview of his creative practice documenting urban communities in London. Arriving in London from Jamaica at the age of twelve, he grew up amidst a background of hostility and prejudice. He began taking photographs at the age of fourteen and later worked as a freelance photographer for magazines including Harpers Bazaar, Life and Italian Vogue. He is best known for his photographs of Notting Hill during the period of West Indian migration to London, as well as his work documenting the passion and style of African-Caribbean funerals in London.
SUN 24 OCT
10.00 / Jon Tonks with Christopher Lord
Jon Tonks will be joined by writer Christopher Lord to discuss their new photobook, The Men Who Would be King. In this publication, Jon presents a series of encounters between 2014 and 2018, questioning why men dreamt of being worshipped by people on the other side of the world. Going back to the early explorers, the book asks why this dream has endured in the Western imagination through films and literature, and examines the long shadow it casts into our own time.
11.00 / Helen Sear
Helen Sear will discuss her new photobook, Era of Solitude, which will be published by Dewi Lewis OCT 2021. Helen’s practice focuses on the co-existence of human, animal, and natural environments and is rooted in an interest in Magic Realism, Surrealism and Conceptual Art. This publication reflects on the current ecological crisis and our shared responsibilities
12.00 / Giya Makondo-Wills with Kelly O’Brien
Giya Makondo-Wills will be in conversation with Kelly O’Brien to discuss navigating race, representation and de-colonisation in the photobook and beyond. Giya Makondo-Wills is a British-South African documentary photographer based between the U.K and the Netherlands. Her work looks at identity, race, colonisation, the western gaze and systems of power.
14.00 / Trolley Books at 20
Marking 20 years of Trolly Books, Sarah Allen (Curator at Tate Modern) will chair a discussion with Hannah Watson (Director at Trolly Books) on the highs and lows of publishing, and how you don’t have to be mad to be in publishing, but it helps. They will be joined Adam Broomberg and Siân Davey, who Trolly have previously published. Founded in 2001 by Gigi Giannuzzi, Trolley Books was one of the early independent publishers, and quickly became known for an award-winning and diverse range of titles presenting unique stories in photography, photojournalism and contemporary art.
15.30 / Robin Maddock with Johny Pitts
Robin Maddock will be in discussion with Johnny Pitts on his new photobook ‘England or…’, a book with a different title in every copy. This publication is a result of five years of documentary photography shot around the UK after the Brexit vote. The work explores a country torn apart over issues of identity, race, money, inequality, space and versions of history.