Known for images that capture the human experience of climate change, Gideon Mendel is committed to contemporary social issues of global concern. In this new talk, the photographer will give insight into his practice, particularly his experiences of working in these devastating conditions — and with the people who live in them.

He will talk about his Drowning World and Burning World projects and will share some of the narrative threads that have emerged in this work over the fifteen years of this engagement. Along with this he will discuss the development of his video practice, both in the shooting of video alongside still images and presenting video pieces alongside his photographic prints, as can be seen outside the gallery in his SPQ presentation.

Biographies

Working with both stills and video, Gideon Mendel's intimate style of image-making and long-term commitment to socially engaged projects has earned international recognition. Born in Johannesburg in 1959 he began photographing in the 1980s, during the final years of apartheid. This experience as a "struggle photographer", documenting the brutality of the South African state's response to peaceful protest, marked him on some level and for much of his subsequent career his focus has been on responding to the key global issues facing his generation. For the Drowning World and Burning World series, he worked in the UK, India, Haiti, Pakistan, Australia, Thailand, Nigeria, Germany, The Philippines, Brazil, Bangladesh, the USA, France, Australia, Greece and Canada.

Mendel has won the Eugene Smith Award for Humanistic Photography, the Amnesty International Media Award, the Greenpeace Photo Award and he has been shortlisted for the Prix Pictet in 2015 (Disorder) and 2019 (Hope). In 2016 he was the first recipient of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation's "Pollock Prize for Creativity".

Mark Sealy, Executive Director of Autograph (1991- ) and Professor, Photography, Rights and Representation at University Arts London - London College of Communication and affiliated to the Photography Archive and Research Centre.

Sealy is interested in the relationship between art, photography and social change, identity politics, race, and human rights. He has written for many of the world’s leading photographic journals, produced numerous artist publications, curated exhibitions, and commissioned photographers and filmmakers worldwide. In addition, he is an advisor (management + committees) to several leading cultural institutions, including Tate, Paul Mellon Centre for the Studies in British Art, and the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art.

Sealy’s critical writings on photography have been published by Lawrence and Wishart. Photography: Race, Rights and Representation, published 2022 and Decolonising the Camera: Photography in Racial Time, published 2019.

Details on how to access the talk will be confirmed upon registration. Please check your junk folders if you haven't received an email from TPG confirming your place.

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