Occasional thoughts, art reviews, photographs and stories

  Terry Dennett, who passed away recently, would have turned 80 on 4 February. There will be a service at the Islington Crematorium, 278 High Road, East Finchley, at 11 a.m. on Wednesday 7 February.  We first met at TPW - Toronto Photographer's Workshop, at a comprehensive Jo Spence retrospective in 1997, where Terry was speaking about the legacy of her work and their collaborations. Over the next 20 years, Terry became a mentor and dear friend, always sharing his wide ranging photographic knowledge generously.  Terry Dennett in 2012 at Jo Spence (Part 1) in London, Space Studios Training originally as a painter, for decades Terry worked as staff photographer at the London Zoo, where he had a colour and black & white darkroom and a 9 to 5 job. He also had, what he referred to as his second 5 to 9 job, and would regularly collaborate on projects with researchers, including Shaheed Macgregor, on Eating Rough, Sleeping Rough, a pop-up exhibition   made in s

Marilyn Stafford Alliance Francaise Exhibition March 8 th – April 3 2017 Toronto Mémoires photographiques des coins perdus: Les Enfants de la Cité Lesage-Bullourde et Boulogne-Billancourt, Paris 1949-54 Much travelled and internationally published photographer Marilyn Stafford grew up during the 1930s in Cleveland, Ohio USA. In December 1948, Marilyn moved to Paris via New York, and in 1951 briefly sang with a small music ensemble at Chez Carrère near the Champs Elysées. At the club she met Edith Piaf and also became friends with Robert Capa and Henri Cartier-Bresson, who both encouraged her work as a photographer. Between 1949 and the mid 1950s, Marilyn made photographs in several different Parisian neighbourhoods. Her compelling images of children from Cité Lesage-Bullourde near the Place de la Bastille, provide rare insights into the daily lives of children in one of Paris’ poorest districts. Marilyn’s photographs of the children who made these streets their playgr

'One reality leads to another with the assurance that both exist instantaneously and in the same place' - Roland Penrose, commenting, in 1938 on the landscapes of Paul Nash - currently @ TATE BRITAIN. Large comprehensive retrospective of Paul Nash's work - rich use of symbolism, metaphor and planes of vision. Dreaming trees and Aerial Creatures particularly moving.

Devastating group exhibition showing damage caused to planet - era of the anthropocene - with Richard Misrach, Chris Jordan, Ed Burtynsky and many more.  Chris Jordan image of 2010 unaltered stomach contents of fledgling Laysan albatross, Midway Island

Autograph exhibition of more than forty photographs in three gallery spaces at the National Portrait Gallery. Astonishing quality and presence - important exhibition - beautifully presented. Photographs taken in 1891 - but look contemporary - the sitters are present.

Autograph exhibition of more than forty photographs in three gallery spaces at the National Portrait Gallery. Astonishing quality and presence - important exhibition - beautifully presented. Photographs taken in 1891 - but look contemporary - the sitters are present.