Category Archives: Photography

‘Water is sacred’: 10 visual artists reflect on the human right to water

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The UN declared access to water and sanitation a human right a decade ago, but 785 million people worldwide still have no water close to home

Ten photographs marking the 10th anniversary of access to water and sanitation being declared a human right by the UN have been commissioned from 10 visual artists by the charity WaterAid to show the impact of clean water on people’s lives.

Globally, 785 million people – one in 10 – still lack access to water close to home and 2 billion people – one in four – don’t have a toilet of their own.

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Marcus Rashford scores cover of British Vogue’s September issue

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The footballer is recognised for his activism in the magazine among 40 ‘faces of hope’

Marcus Rashford’s inspirational, policy-changing campaign against child poverty has garnered him accolades aplenty. Now it has also propelled the footballer on to the front cover of British Vogue’s September issue.

The Manchester United striker, who forced a government U-turn on the granting of free food vouchers for the poorest families over the summer, headlines a special edition dedicated to activism.

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The images of ordinary Soweto that captured apartheid’s injustice

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David Goldblatt’s photo essay from 1972 is a key document of an era. Now he is the subject of a major show in London

The photographer David Goldblatt, the great chronicler of the apartheid era in South Africa, is to be celebrated by one of the first London art galleries to re‑open this month.

Goldblatt, who died in 2018, has not been the subject of a major London show for more than 30 years. The new exhibition, David Goldblatt: Johannesburg 1948-2018, at the Goodman Gallery in Mayfair, will focus on a particularly moving photo essay, Soweto, from 1972. The photographs in the series were taken over six months in a febrile atmosphere that would lead to an uprising in this impoverished area of Johannesburg four years later.

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Lisbon’s back-alley fado legends – photo essay

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A portrait of Lisbon, saudade and the fado folk music of the city and its relationship with tourism. Henri Kisielewski is the 2019 recipient of the Joan Wakelin bursary, administrated in partnership with the Royal Photographic Society

Fado is Lisbon’s urban folk music, born in and around the brothels, alleyways and ​tascas ​of the city’s poorest neighbourhoods. Fado is to Lisbon what the Blues are to the Delta. Written records trace it back to the early 19th century, though some argue it is much older, connecting it to oral traditions imported from across the Portuguese empire.

At the heart of fado is ​saudade.​ This elusive word – apparently untranslatable from the original Portuguese – broadly refers to a sense of sorrow, of yearning, and a resigned desire for what once was. This is the underlying emotion of all fado and perhaps of Lisbon itself.

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Li Zhensheng, photographer of China’s Cultural Revolution, dies

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Former publisher announces death of Li, known for his book Red-Color News Soldier

The Chinese photographer Li Zhensheng, known for his unflinching portrayal of China’s Cultural Revolution, has died, according to his former publisher.

The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, which in 2018 published the first Chinese-language edition of Li’s book Red-Color News Soldier – a compilation of photos he had hidden from the period – said Li, 79, had died after spending several days in hospital following a brain haemorrhage.

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Color is not a crime: New York’s Black Lives Matter street art

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Across the US, artists have responded to the death of George Floyd and the ensuing protests with impactful and urgent work. In New York, artworks have appeared supporting the Black Lives Matter movement, and remembering the deaths of, among others, Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain and Eric Garner

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Cafe culture returns to France after lockdown – in pictures

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In Paris, contented customers sit outside cafes and sip their morning espressos for the first time in 11 weeks. There are, however, strict rules: bars and restaurants have permission to sprawl across pavements but tables must be 1m apart. In the rest of France, customers can now be served inside while maintaining the same distance

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Picturing lockdown: Historic England’s archive of isolation – in pictures

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Today, Historic England reveals 200 new images which have been added to their archive to form the Picturing Lockdown Collection. This follows a call-out asking the public to photograph their lockdown from 29 April to 5 May. The appeal was the first time the public have been asked to submit photographs for the archive since the Second World War.

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