National Portrait Gallery: Format Photography Agency Exhibition

Originally I was going to visit the Irving Penn exhibition in the National Portrait Gallery, however upon finding the entry fee to this exhibition was £10 that I did not have, I had to rethink this. I found a small exhibition on the Format Photography Agency that actually turned out to be quite interesting.

This was the only agency in British history that was made up of and promoted the work of contemporary female photographers. The photographers portrayed people and issues, which were under-represented in the mainstream media at the time, for example, gay and lesbian groups and people with disabilities. The portraits in this exhibition show significant figures from the period 1983-2003, including Julie Christie, Helena Ann Kennedy and Joan Ruddock.

I thought all of the photographs in this exhibition were breathtaking, showing men and women who were important to society but under-represented at the time. One image in particular that caught my eye was a photograph of Jo Spence that I have seen before. I thought this image (which was taken as part of a series when Spence was battling breast cancer) summed up the strength and importance of all the people shown in these photographs, in relation to them trying to change the way people think about social groups.

This exhibition has also helped with another part of the module this blog is for. I need to look into the subject of under-represented groups within the media, and I think that the Format Photography Agency would be the perfect thing to research for this.