Women on Women is the upcoming exhibition exploring aspects of the multifaceted “feminine universe”. Featuring six of London’s emerging women photographers, the show focuses on charged ideas relating to nature, girlhood, the body, sexuality, and intimacy.
Featuring the work of Tami Aftab, Serena Brown, Hayleigh Longman, Phoebe Somerfield, Ellen Stewart and Poppy Thorpe, the exhibition showcases the valuable dialogue between women working in the field of photography – through artistic collaboration and otherwise – from which emerges a plethora of narratives surrounding women’s embodiment.
Disillusioned by the gender disparity in their field, these recent graduates strive to make space for their perception of the world and represent the multi-layered nature of their experience. In a text accompanying the show, writer Gilda Bruno explains that “rather than simply raising awareness of the discrimination still endured by female photographers in and outside the UK, Women on Women zooms in on the diversity of approaches, styles, tropes, and biographies” which converge in this group show.
The show draws our attention to the ways in which women’s bodies are embedded with memories of the home. Aftab reflects this in her exchange with visual artist Jesse Boon Cowler as hand-painted runes and totems of the past trace the physical reminiscence of childhood when placed on the naked body. The body is in turn considered in connection with nature by Longman, where the visceral relationship women have with nature is depicted in her collaboration with Lucy Trenchard and Hana Al-Sayed.
Somewhere between fashion and social documentary, imagery by Brown turns to women’s friendships, chronicling its complexity, particularly within the transition between girlhood and womanhood. This universe expands itself into the work of Stewart and Thorpe, which offers shelter from the male gaze. New worlds are carefully designed in each of Stewart’s greyscale analogue photographs, where sexual dynamics between men and women are humorously subverted. Likewise, Thorpe creates a world in which women can freely exist as single entities, stripped of preconceptions and liberated from scrutiny.
Finally, it’s time to amplify ‘the little things’. Bringing women joy amidst chaos, Somerfield sings an ode to the transcendence of “astrology, luck and chance”, and celebrates their mysteriousness in a world dominated by the rigidity of fact.
Style, approach, and biography all contribute to the diversity of the experiences presented, and each perspective enriches another to orchestrate an experience of photography of women by women.
Women On Women is running from July 28 until 29 July [12-5 PM] at AMP Gallery, 1 Acorn Parade, London SE15 2TZ. The private view takes place on July 27, 6-9 PM.
Join Dazed Club and be part of our world! You get exclusive access to events, parties, festivals and our editors, as well as a free subscription to Dazed for a year. Join for £5/month today.
)
)
