Handy Guide to Contemporary Heroines at Photo London
Open to the public from 12th – 15th May, this year’s Photo London will bring together some of the most groundbreaking work in contemporary photography, as well as paying tribute to the pioneers of the past.
The seventh edition of the fair brings together an impressive range of international galleries, offering visitors an opportunity to explore, discover, and collect some of the world’s most exquisite photographic artworks.
Hundred Heroines will be publishing highlights throughout the week, uncovering events and showcases featuring a myriad of leading women in photography.
If you’re visiting the work of the Heroines in person, be sure to tag us on social media @hundredheroines! We can’t wait to see what you discover…
Alix Marie
Gallery: hi~noon
Location: D5, Discovery Section of Somerset House
Alix Marie combines photography with sculpture to create works which challenge the relationship between human bodies and the camera.
Cristina de Middel
Gallery: Magnum Photos Gallery
Location: G11
Cristina de Middel became an associate member of Magnum in 2019. In both her long-term and shorter projects, she has continued to offer new perspectives on photographic photojournalism, and runs a self-publishing house – This Book is True – dedicated to new perspectives from or about Africa.
Gohar Dashti
Gallery: The Photographer’s Gallery
Location: F12
Gohar Dashti’s photography involves poignant themes such as the effects of war, human migration, and our interaction with the natural world. She often draws on botanical symbolism to evoke feelings of power and belonging.
Heather Agyepong
Gallery: James Hyman
Location: W04
In honour of her receipt of the Photo London x Nikon Emerging Photographer of the Year award last year, Photo London will present work by Heather Agyepong alongside fellow shortlisted artists Almudena Romero and Alia Ali. Heather’s work frequently reimagines historical and cultural figures to explore themes of mental health, invisibility, the Black diaspora, and the archive.
Jane Hilton
Gallery: Eleven Fine Art
Location: G3, Main Pavilion
Jane Hilton’s acclaimed documentary works explore the extraordinary realities at the heart of everyday North American culture, particularly the American West.
Karen Knorr
Gallery: Holden Luntz Gallery
Photo London Location: E06
Karen Knorr has used digital methods since the 1990s to create a distinctive visual language with aesthetic and conceptual appeal. In her large-scale colour work, which uses compositing and digital montage techniques, Karen weaves rich visual tapestries influenced by Indian and European cultural heritage.
Laura El-Tantawy
Gallery: Messums Gallery
Location: A5
Raised in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United States, Laura El-Tantawy’s variegated experiences are conceptually reflected in her wider body of work, which encompasses themes of home, belonging, and memory.
Marilyn Stafford
Gallery: Lucy Bell Gallery
Location: E03
Marilyn Stafford’s photographic career was formally launched in autumn 1948 when she took her first portrait of Albert Einstein, during the making of a documentary film. One of few women photographers working for national and international newspapers and magazines during her career, she is now revered as one of the leading documentary and fashion photographers of her time.
Nan Goldin
Gallery: Galerie Sophie Scheidecker
Location: W01
A renowned photographer and activist, Nan Goldin is widely recognised for her explorations of LGBT subculture, intimacy, the HIV/AIDS crisis, and the opioid epidemic. Her oeuvre is replete with candid, deeply personal photography.
Rut Blees Luxemburg
Gallery: hi~noon
Location: D5, Discovery Section of Somerset House
Rut Blees Luxemburg’s photography explores representations of the city and the phenomenon of the urban, ranging from large-scale photographs to public art installations and operatic mise-en-scène.
Sally Mann
Gallery: Prix Pictet
Location: F08
Sally Mann’s Blackwater, which won the prestigious Prix Pictet award in 2021, explores the devastating wildfires which decimated the Great Dismal Swamp in southeastern Virginia, where the first slave ships docked in North America. Through a series of striking black and white photography, displayed at the Prix Pictet section of Photo London, Sally draws a parallel between the all-consuming wildfires she encountered there and racial conflict in the country at large.
Sarah Moon
Gallery: Peter Fetterman Gallery
Location: A1, Somerset House
Ethereal and elegant, Sarah Moon’s photographs are almost abstract in their painterly qualities.
“When I shoot flowers or any still life or fashion, color forces me to be more abstract. I have to make the effort to transpose it in order to get close to what it was that first impressed me. For me black and white is closer to introspection, to memories, to loneliness and loss. I don’t see the same in color – it’s another language, a living language.” — Sarah Moon
Sophy Rickett
Gallery: hi~noon
Location: D5, Discovery Section of Somerset House
Sophy Rickett often explores the tension between photography’s abstract qualities and narrative potential, working with photography, film, text and archival materials. Many of her works possess a strongly formal quality which exudes ambiguity.
Susan Derges
Galleries: Purdy Hicks Gallery and Grob Gallery
Location: G17, Main Pavilion (Purdy Hicks)
Susan Derges’ delicate compositions establish visual metaphors, exploring interrelation between the imagined and the ‘real’. Her works render visible the intricate yet powerful processes which permeate nature and science.
Yan Wang Preston
Gallery: Messums Gallery
Location: A5
Against the backdrop of landscapes in perpetual flux, Yan Wang Preston’s work invites the viewer to dwell within an experience of place, examining their own relationship to the delicate transience of natural and urban worlds.
Yushi Li
Gallery: hi~noon
Location: D5, Discovery Section of Somerset House
Yushi Li’s work frequently explores sexuality, relationships, and hookup culture. She subverts stereotypical gender dynamics, critiquing portrayals of desire in mainstream media.
