This Week in London – Photographing the 80s; Tirzah Garwood at Dulwich; and, Mars comes to Greenwich…

Paul Trevor, ‘Outside police station, Bethnal Green Road, London E2′ 17 July 1978. Sit down protest against police racism’, 1978 © Paul Trevor

The largest survey of the development of photography in Britain across the 1980s to date goes on show at the Tate Britain today. The 80s: Photographing Britain draws on almost 350 images and archive materials from the period to explore how photographers responded to the “seismic social, political, and economic shifts around them” during the decade. It features the work of more than 70 lens-based artists and collectives and features images taken from across the UK – from John Davies’ post-industrial Welsh landscape to Tish Murtha’s portraits of youth unemployment in Newcastle and Don McCullin’s portraits of London’s disappearing East End. Along with documentary photography capturing key political events such as John Harris and Brenda Prince’s images of the miners’ strikes and
Syd Shelton and Paul Trevor’s images of anti-racism demonstrations, the exhibition also includes
a series of thematic displays, featuring works such as Roy Mehta and Vanley Burke images of their multicultural communities, which explore how photography became a compelling tool for representation. Other subjects covered include countercultural movements that took place in the 80s and the presence and visibility of the LGBTQ+ community during the period of the AIDS epidemic. Runs until 5th May. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.tate.org.uk.

Tirzah Garwood, ‘Etna’, 1944, oil on canvas. PICTURE: Courtesy of Fleece Press/Simon Lawrence

The first major exhibition devoted to the British artist and designer Tirzah Garwood has opened at the Dulwich Picture Gallery. Tirzah Garwood: Beyond Ravilious comes 10 years after the critically acclaimed show celebrating the work of Eric Ravilious, husband of Garwood who was a celebrated artist and printmaker in her own right. More than 80 of Garwood’s work are on show including most of her existing oil paintings. Along with Garwood’s works – which include everything from woodgravings to a series of experimental marbled papers and collaged paper portraits – are 10 watercolours by her husband which draw out the couple’s “thematic similarities, shared interests and distinct artistic personalities”. Runs until 26th May. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk.

Luke Jerram’s massive travelling installation Mars is unveiled at the Painted Hall in Greenwich this Saturday. Measuring seven metres in diameter and internally lit, the work features detailed NASA imagery of the Martian surface, recreated to scale (but about a million times smaller than the actual planet). The installation, which follows on from Jerram’s earlier artworks Gaia and Museum of the Moon, features a surround sound composition by BAFTA-winning composer Dan Jones which includes clips from NASA missions to Mars. Can be seen until 28th January. Admission charge applies. For more, see https://ornc.org/whats-on/mars/.

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