Exhibition: People in London

Free Exhibition
8th September - 17th October 2014

Richard Slater's book

Last week, I went to a photographic exhibition entitled ‘People in London’ by Richard Slater at the Royal Geographical Society. It showcases photos without pretence about – well – people in London. The photos are straightforward and realistic without any effects, lens flare or the occasional macro. It is just life, fully pixelated life. It’s #nofilter if you speak Instagram.

The name of the exhibition couldn’t be more accurate – because it is like the exhibition, a simple sober description without judgment or categorisation. These aren’t Londoners or People from London. This sober realism is what makes the exhibition so powerful.

Similarly a short note, speaking about the people and places depicted, accompanies each photograph. The style of these descriptions startled me at first. They were bare, purely descriptive, no sense of poetry or use of sophisticated language. Like Slater's pictures they just tell things as they are. It took me a while until I understood that this was how they should be. The pictures and their descriptions don’t pretend, they are real and simple as life. There is no intent to embellish them. I ended up reading every single note, as I grew fascinated and was curious what each and everyone of them had to said.

Richard Slater spent five years recording his view of London, along five categories with a bonus uncategorised ‘London Surprises’ which was my favourite. Also - listen out for the London sounds!

You can definitely feel Slater’s love for the city as he draws a contemporary portrait of the people that make the ever-changing smoggy place that London is.

Disobedient Objects at the V&A - free exhibition

The Victoria and Albert Museum currently hosts a free exhibition called ‘Disobedient Objects’. The exhibition showcases objects that have been used in protests and for social movements; you may ask - what does that have to do with design? A lot, in fact. All the collected objects tell a story of how an object was created, or recycled in many cases, to serve a purpose in a social movement between the 1970s and now. It demonstrates the innovation and creativity of people, how rudimentary elements can be taken to create something so meaningful. The obvious things I thought of before visiting were banners and posters, which are often proof of creativity and wit, but there are so many more things in the exhibition that tell fascinating stories.

What caused one of the biggest disconnects for me, were the textiles created by Chilean women to protest against the dictatorship, sometimes hiding messages in the back of the work. The authorities dismissed it as folk art, oblivious to the daring message. Later in the 90s these techniques were taken up by protests in Ireland against the Iraq war. Indeed, the great connectedness of our time helps social movements to learn from each other. Instructions manuals on how to protest, what to do in case of an arrest and also how to create objects like homemade tear-gas mask were another example of it. A manual that appeared in Egypt 2011, was found translated in the 2013 Ukraine protests.

Signs and symbols are also part of the exhibition, explaining the story of the SILENCE=DEATH banner used in early AIDS protests, as well as re-use of symbols across protests. On one side of the exhibition room, you can see giant inflatable cobblestones hanging from the ceiling, which were used in protests in Berlin, reusing this symbol of protest, which for me very much evokes the French Revolution. Make sure to watch the short film on the big screen to see a policeman struggle to deflate the giant cobblestone.

These are just a few examples that stood out for me and I hope will give you a taste of what the exhibition is about, to go and discover it for yourself!

I would recommend going at a time when it isn’t that busy – the V&A is open until 10pm on Fridays, which for me was the best time!

Let me know how you find it!