Brighton Photo Biennial

Pan and I popped down to Brighton today to mooch around the Photography Biennial that’s been curated by Martin Parr. There’s a ton of stuff to see, far more than an afternoon will allow and frustratingly everything closes at 5pm. Never the less I made it to 4 of the events and generally enjoyed what I saw. Stand out stuff for me was…

Oscar Fernando Gomez’s ‘Windows’ a series of photos he took in Mexico from the drivers seat of his taxi. Each photo is framed by the passenger door to really good effect and the wing mirror provides almost a ‘photo within the photo.’ I can’t really remember many of the actual subjects, just the composition which probably says something about the set. Tyres, there was tyres in one. it also reminded me of Marion and Geoff, but that’s just me, I doubt he’s seen it.

An Algerian photographer staged a series of ominous sense from urban France. Themes of violence, racial tension, nationalism abound. Not sure what I make of staged photos, there’s a loss of authenticity I can’t get over.

Sleepers by Dhruv Malhotra was a series if people bedding rough in India. In fact night shots where pretty common at the exhibit in the Old Co-Op department store. I wondered if the photographer ever questioned if the people were dead, they certainly looked pretty lifeless.

Suzann Opton’s Soldier Billboard Project was a harrowing collection of former American service men. The blankets that covered them felt like it was taking things a little far, but their tragic stories made up for that. A second set of photos, just headshots of them lying down, was particularly tough. All had such tortured eyes and conjured up images of corpses on mortuary beds.

Downstairs at the Co-Op was a set of pics from the 90s. Keep and eye out for the doCKers t-shirt in support of Scouse ship building.

We also headed over to Fabrica. The stand out part of this exhibit is the space itself. A maze of little rooms all decked out to suit their photos. I liked the hats, aeroplane interiors and shots of kids.

Head down, it’s a great way to spend an afternoon.

This is the bike shop I’ve always wanted to find, and they’ve got me for as long as I can cycle over.