Another Kind of Life - Photography on the Margins review: Exceptional show brings outsiders in from the cold

1/9
Ben Luke5 March 2018

Much in this exhibition is unsettling; it’s not an easy couple of hours. But it’s packed with some of the great photographic projects of recent decades.

The 20 photographers have captured people outside of conventional society, either by choice or through oppression or disadvantage: bikers and gangs, homeless people and sex workers.

As significant as the artists’ subject matter is their position as a photographer: the camera isn’t some detached, objective eye; it’s held by a person, engaging with other people, with varying degrees of intimacy.

This invariably places the artist, and by implication, the viewer in a fluid place, ethically. And that’s part of the aim of this show: to rupture comfortable views of the world; to present us with uneasy truths.

Courtesy of Melanie Rio Fluency, France

Sometimes the artists are insiders: Larry Clark was part of the group of young people he pictures shooting up and shagging in Tulsa; Danny Lyon was an Outlaw, one of the bikers he captured in Sixties America.

At other moments, they’re at a remove, but deeply sympathetic, as in Igor Palmin’s images of hippies in Soviet wastelands, or in Jim Goldberg’s Raised by Wolves, a study of teenage homelessness, neglect and abuse in California.

The artists adopt a striking range of emotional registers. In Paz Errázuriz’s images of cross-dressing sex workers amid Pinochet’s murderous Chilean regime, solidarity, activism, pride and fear pours from the images.

6 exhibitions you need to see this March

1/6

Dayanita Singh’s video of Mona Ahmed, a eunuch who chose to live as a woman, lip-syncing to a plaintive Indian song, is tender but heartbreaking. Goldberg’s project is all the more affecting because Dave and Echo, its principal subjects, are collaborators, their texts and voices appearing in the work.

Even though many of these projects are decades old, the stories they tell seem eternally relevant. It’s a demanding show, but an essential one.

Until May 27

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in