Photomonth Opens – Phil Maxwell

© 2011, Peter Marshall
Phil Maxwell speaks at the opening

Tonight saw the opening of Photomonth 2011, still London’s only real major photography festival, although nominally limited to East London. That is a fairly elastic definition, and there are also a few shows outside the area, as well as some on-line.

There had been a suggestion that there might be a greater emphasis this year in the run up to the London Olympics on photographs of East London in general and the Olympic area in particular, which was why I organised the show ‘East of the City‘ as a part of it, with work by three photographers and including some of my own pictures from what is now the Olympic area, taken around 25-30 years ago.

Looking through the very extensive catalogue of exhibitions this year – well over a hundred shows in East London, as well as other activities, relatively few seem to have taken that suggestion to heart, but at the very centre of the festival, showing the the Bishopsgate Institute and Rough Trade East is Phil Maxwell’s ‘Forty Years On’, and it was this show that was the centrepiece of this years Photomonth opening.

I found it a slightly difficult show to view in the library at the Bishopsgate Institute, with some pictures high up on the wall above the book cases, and others rather smaller on the ends of the stacks. I was thankful that their was a listing of the images so I could work my way slowly around the space and make sure I saw them all, though I did find it a little annoying to have to change from my distance spectacles for those pictures on high and back to my ‘computer’ glasses for those at a lower level. Maxwell’s earlier work from Liverpool in the 1970s was rather easier to view, shown more conventionally in the corridor outside the library, and perhaps because of this and a more limited range of subject matter I found it photographically more coherent.

From Liverpool, Maxwell came down to London, and his pictures show that he took the East End to his heart, and the reception at the opening showed that the people there took him to theirs.

Here are some pictures from the opening on Thursday 29th – in time I will post more on the 2011 September pages of My London Diary.

© 2011, Peter Marshall

© 2011, Peter Marshall

© 2011, Peter Marshall
Festival Director Maggie Pinhorn introduces Phil Maxwell
© 2011, Peter Marshall

© 2011, Peter Marshall

© 2011, Peter Marshall

© 2011, Peter Marshall

© 2011, Peter Marshall

Over the next month there are many events and shows to enjoy in London  – see the details on the web site or pick up the brochure from any of the hundred or more venues.

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