The Museum of London has a great exhibit on London Street Photography. A fascinating look at the city from the 1860s to today and the ways in which London's streets have been documented and imagined over time.
The video documentary which accompanies the exhibit features a series of photographers who comment on the ways that street photography has changed in the past 10 years, especially as anti-terrorism and privacy laws grow tighter. (Last summer, I was told by a security guard to stop taking cell phone photos in front of the Seagram Building in New York City.) There are certainly new anxieties and suspicions about photographing people and buildings, particularly in dense urban areas. Old photos of children playing in city streets have always captivated me and I was struck when one of the artists remarked that today's generation of kids is the first not being photographed in the way city children have been for the past 150 years. The exhibit ultimately makes a strong case that the photography of ordinary people by ordinary people carries inherent social and political value.
AND NOW, A DIFFERENT KIND OF STREET ART:
Definitely watch this short video on the fascinating work of French street artist JR -- he is also the 2011 TED Prize Winner. As part of his massive public projects, JR photographs ordinary residents in places like Kenya, Sudan, Israel, and Palestine and then posts the enormous portraits throughout their communities. From the TED website:
The video documentary which accompanies the exhibit features a series of photographers who comment on the ways that street photography has changed in the past 10 years, especially as anti-terrorism and privacy laws grow tighter. (Last summer, I was told by a security guard to stop taking cell phone photos in front of the Seagram Building in New York City.) There are certainly new anxieties and suspicions about photographing people and buildings, particularly in dense urban areas. Old photos of children playing in city streets have always captivated me and I was struck when one of the artists remarked that today's generation of kids is the first not being photographed in the way city children have been for the past 150 years. The exhibit ultimately makes a strong case that the photography of ordinary people by ordinary people carries inherent social and political value.
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AND NOW, A DIFFERENT KIND OF STREET ART:
Definitely watch this short video on the fascinating work of French street artist JR -- he is also the 2011 TED Prize Winner. As part of his massive public projects, JR photographs ordinary residents in places like Kenya, Sudan, Israel, and Palestine and then posts the enormous portraits throughout their communities. From the TED website:
JR exhibits his photographs in the biggest art gallery on the planet. His work is presented freely in the streets of the world, catching the attention of people who are not museum visitors. His work mixes Art and Action; it talks about commitment, freedom, identity and limit.
