darkroom felt particularly privileged when Brett Rogers agreed to be the latest speaker at our occasional series of evening talks. The former director of The Photographers’ Gallery in the heart of London arrived perfectly colour-coordinated with our vintage Ilford signage!
Brett Rogers with one of darkroom’s founders Dennis Yandoli
Brett began her talk, entitled Curating Your Work, with a brief overview of her career, starting with her arrival in the UK from Australia in the early 80s to study for her MA at the Courtauld Institute. A fortunate break resulted in her landing a plum job at the British Council, where she was responsible for promoting UK photography past and present around the world for over 20 years. In 2005 Brett was appointed as Director of The Photographers’ Gallery, where her first job was to relocate the organisation from its cramped location on Great Newport St, to the current building on Ramillies St. Here she played a decisive role in expanding the range of creative options available to photographers when showing their work.
The talk then focussed on the way in which gallery exhibiting aesthetics have evolved from classical linear and salon hangs to some of the more radical styles seen today. Brett compared the famous ‘Family of Man’ show in the 50s, with examples of shows she was involved in curating at TPG, as well as the controversial Diane Arbus hang at Arles. She provided interesting insight into the way in which curating the space can be as important as choosing the work that is to be exhibited in it, citing the impact of lighting and addition of soundscapes on the way in which an audience responds to what is on the wall.
Acknowledging that getting work into a gallery is becoming increasingly difficult, Brett rounded of her talk with a few suggestions of alternative ways that the assembled photographers might consider getting their images seen. These included mobile bike shows, temporarily occupying empty commercial property or focussing on the production of zines or photobooks. This led to a lively and informative discussion with the enthusiastic audience, a number of whom we were pleased to see were first-time visitors to darkroom.
Watch this space for more talks in the coming months.