Talks and more: Autograph at Photo London 2023

As part of the lead-up to Autograph’s 35th anniversary, Director Professor Mark Sealy OBE will be in conversation with photographic artist, scholar, archive curator and radical sex activist Ajamu. For more than three decades, Ajamu has unapologetically celebrated black queer bodies, the erotic sense and pleasure as activism. He has been at the forefront of genderqueer photography, challenging dominant ideas around masculinity, gender, sexuality and representation of black LGBTQ+ people in the UK. Autograph has worked with Ajamu since the early 1990s, and his new solo exhibition The Patron Saint of the Darkrooms is currently on view at our gallery in London.

Join us for an exclusive conversation between two renowned Prix Pictet shortlisted photographers, Edgar Martins and Edmund Clark, moderated by Isabelle von Ribbentrop, Executive Director of Prix Pictet. Martins' series "Our War" and Clark's "Guantanamo: If the Light Goes Out" shed light on the impact of conflict, state control, and surveillance. This talk is part of Autograph's 35th anniversary celebration and will feature a discussion on the role of photography in exposing uncomfortable truths. Don't miss this opportunity to gain fresh insights into the power of photography.

As part of the lead-up to Autograph’s 35th anniversary, Director Professor Mark Sealy OBE will be in conversation with Iranian‐British artist and filmmaker Mitra Tabrizian. Tabrizian's photographic work has been exhibited and published widely and is represented in major international museums and public collections. Solo museum shows include Tate Britain (2008). She has exhibited at the Venice Biennale, Iranian pavilion (2015), was awarded the Royal Academyʼs Rose Award for Photography (2013), and was selected for Hundred Heroines: Celebrating Women in Photography Today launched by the Royal Photographic Society (2018). Tabrizian is a friend of Autograph, and will speak to Sealy about her early series The Blues as well as her current photography and film work.

New spaces and new leadership in major photo institutions; expanded offerings from venerable museums — photography in London is making strides to extend the conversation around the medium in new and exciting ways. Join Marta Weiss (V&A), Shoair Mavlian (Photographers’ Gallery), and Mark Sealy (AUTOGRAPH) for a conversation around the possibilities — and obstacles — facing the city’s photo community. Moderated by David Campany. Book tickets on the Photo London website.