TAKENinLONDON
photographs by
Paul Baldesare & Peter Marshall
Taken in London
London still has a claim to be the greatest city in the world and it is still the most photographed of all cities. The key area of all cities is the street, where people walk, congregate, shop and meet, and both Marshall and Baldesare come out of the tradition of street photography and concentrate on the life of ordinary people - who are often extraordinary on those streets.
For Baldesare, the city is defined by trade, and his work concentrates on the shopping streets - particularly Oxford St, the hub of consumerism - and markets. The people on whom he concentrates are very much surrounded by advertising hoardings, window displays and other blandishments of the consumer society. But it is the people themselves who remain important, retain their individuality and autonomy despite their sometimes sometimes overpowering surroundings. Their gestures, body language and expressions are the stuff of these images, which often show a surprising intimacy in these very public places.
Marshall's work looks at the city as an arena for politics, reflecting local, national or international issues on the streets of London. His 'My London Diary' from which these images are taken is a unique record, published on the Internet, a highly individual cross-section of the political and cultural life across the capital. It is a work that owes its existence to the Internet, and an attempt to exploit some of the properties of the medium to presenting the work back to those that he photographs. By May 2009 there were 40,000 images in this on-line archive.
The photographers
Paul Baldesare and Peter Marshall have previously exhibited their work in numerous shows, and have been published in a wider range of books and magazines.
Baldesare's other projects include a long study of English Carnivals which received Arts Council, studies of people on the tube, and of various aspects of suburban life. Marshall's pictures of events including Pride and the Notting Hill Carnival have been the subject of several shows, and he has also exhibited urban landscapes. As well as solo shows in this country he has also had shows abroad at the FotoArtFestival 2005 in Poland and at FotoArte 2007 in Brazil.
This exhibition is now available for suitable venues. Please ring 01784 456474 for details.
ON SHOW:
1 Oct- 31 Oct, 2009 The Juggler, 5 Hoxton Market, N1 6HG