Brighton’s every-other-year photographic events and curated, free, display of photographs is back this October. Curator Shoair Mavlian’s theme, A New Europe, is topical and encompassing.
Brighton’s every-other-year photographic events and curated, free, display of photographs is back this October. Curator Shoair Mavlian’s theme, A New Europe, is topical and encompassing. The problem is that Brighton is so rich in public art, magnificent architecture and interesting people that the rarefied world of curated photography struggles to be seen, let alone stand out; the Biennial is in danger of being “Just a bunch of photos”.
Brighton is a popular destination for photographer students as well as students of photography: the supporting materials for Brighton Photo Biennial 2018 suggest mini-projects for students. adding to the overwhelming number of lenses already stalking photographic prey around the city. Only in Brighton would dressing like a bag women (but with a bag displaying the name of an expensive camera) be an effective disguise for a street photographer. Only in Brighton would a large format print displayed on the side of a freight container and changed daily, be mostly ignored. Only in Brighton is it impossible to distinguish for sure between street sculpture, street art and security fencing.
Happily the photos displayed on the beach within eyesight of Brighton’s iconic wreck of the West Pier have a handy lifebelt and rubbish container.
And so on... only in Brighton.
Themes of interest: photobooks continue to grow in popularity and many more of the artists are embracing Instagram
Brighton Photo Biennial 2018 is somewhat hindered by the rail engineering works reducing the train service from London to buses for most weekends and a full week of its span.