Your Sunday Inspiration ✨

Vernacular social club, Mehmet Malkoc and more ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ From the Bengali Photo Archive © Maya Akash. Courtesy Four Corners Good morning at the end of a momentous week in the UK – and the start of perhaps an even bigger one in France. It was nice to see some friendly faces in Arles over the last few days, where Les Rencontres returned with a wealth of exhibitions and book celebrations. BJP editor Diane Smyth’s report on the Discovery section will be published this week, but if you haven’t made it to the festival yet, make sure to read Sarah Moroz’s [preview]( running through some of the most exciting shows and events. Closer to home, we very much enjoyed the opening of I Am Who I Am Now: Selections from the Bengali Photo Archive at Four Corners, London on Thursday. The show features photographs from the East End’s Bengali community alongside the work of other image-makers who took the population’s political struggles as their subject, including Sarah Ainslie and Paul Trevor. (You may remember Trevor’s work from a previous Four Corners exhibition, Brick Lane 1978, which focused on Bengali opposition to the National Front in the aftermath of the murder of Altab Ali). The show also uses oral testimonies to create a fuller picture of the activism and cultural richness of 1980s London, with youth organisations and musicians proliferating with the support of Tower Hamlets council and figures such as Ken Livingstone. The archive of over 5000 images can also be explored online [here](. Staying with the political theme, be sure to check out Ernest Cole: A Lens in Exile at Autograph, London, which sees the South African artist immersed in the New York City civil rights movement. A wonderful image from Harlem is on sale as a [charity print]( in support of Autograph too. Harlem, New York, 1969 © Ernest Cole. Courtesy the artist and Autograph We’re also starting to get an idea about the 2025 photo calendar. A huge Lee Miller retrospective is coming to Tate Britain, while Tate Modern will mount a major exhibition on Global Pictorialism in winter, described rather vaguely by the gallery as “the first international art photography movement, developed across the world from the 1880s to the 1960s”. According to David Bate, Pictorialism “was the name given to the various disputes about how and under what conditions photography was an art, between the 1890s and the early 1900s”. He quotes Ansel Adams, who in a 1935 essay attempted to explain photography’s vulnerability to a “frank denial of a position among the fine arts”. Pictorialism, Adams wrote, “discards the pure photographic technique and view-point in favour of superficial imitation of other graphic mediums”. Given the mixed reviews of Tate Modern’s Capturing the Moment exhibition this year, in which photography and painting were paired together, it will be interesting to see how the curators navigate Pictorialism’s formal debates over such a broad time period. Watch this space. You’re all invited to the Vernacular Social Club Founded by Jean-Marie Donat and peers, the group takes up the cause of non-professional photographers, offering a sociological reading of everyday images [Read more]( [Build the way you want]( The Turkish artist elevating wedding photography Mehmet Malkoç spends long periods with guests in rural settings, allowing his photojournalistic style to permeate [Read more]( [Build the way you want]( What to see at Les Rencontres d’Arles 2024 The most respected photofestival in the world continues to seek out new voices, says director Christoph Wiesner [Read more]( [Build the way you want]( © Maria Gutu, Portrait of Humanity Vol. 6 single image winner Portrait of Humanity | Green Feast, Maria Gutu Maria Gutu’s Women at the Green Feast is one of 30 single images to win Portrait of Humanity Vol. 6. The photograph captures the celebration of the Green Feast in the Moldovan town of Sofia, where women throw dried leaves and flowers into the river to rid their communities of evil. Women dress up, dance, and perform, while children and men are not allowed to participate. According to legend, if anyone else shows up, they will be stripped naked, watered, and nettled. For this edition of Portrait of Humanity, the 30 winning single images and three series will be exhibited at [Four Corners]( London, and at the [Indian Photo Festival]( in Hyderabad later this year. The 200 shortlisted photos are featured in the dedicated Portrait of Humanity photobook published by [Bluecoat Press]( which is now available for pre-order. [Pre-order now]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [1854 Media Ltd, 244-254 Cambridge Heath Rd, Cambridge Heath, London, E2 9DA, United Kingdom Click here to update your email preferences]( [Click here to unsubscribe from all emails](