6 October 2021

Whose gaze? Representation in photography, class, gender, race

This symposium will use panel discussions and in-conversation sessions to delve deeper into the themes explored in the Bristol Photo Festival exhibitions at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery.

Bringing together a selection of artists featured in Island Life, Lips Touched with Blood and Beyond the Frame, the symposium will draw out some of the questions raised by the exhibitions; from class and representation, gender and voyeurism, to decolonising histories.

What does photography contribute to these debates? What has photography brought to creating images and how we view them? How are artists using photography to address questions around the gaze and representation today?

Programme

Host: Tracy Marshall Grant, Director of Bristol Photo Festival,
Speakers: Dr Clare Johnson, Jessa Fairbrother, Katy Barron, Clementine Schneidermann, Sian Davey, Dr Shawn Sobers, Lebohang Kganye, Sarah Waiswa,

  • 10am – Welcome Keynote speech and introduction by Tracy Marshall Grant.
  • 10.20am – Community and Gender, the photograph as objectifying or empowering?
    Panel discussion with photographers Clementine Schneidermann and Sian Davey. Chaired by Katy Barron, Director of Michael Hoppen Gallery
  • 11.35am – Coffee break
  • 11.50am – The gaze and gender: maternal love stories and preposterous histories
    In depth conversation with artist Jessa Fairbrother and Dr Clare Johnson, associate professor of Art and Design at UWE.
  • 1.05pm – Lunch break
  • 1.35pm – Loaded histories – working with colonial histories
    Artist Lebohang Kganye discusses her commission at the Georgian House Museum and photographer Sarah Waiswa discusses her work with the British Empire and Commonwealth Collection.  Panel discussion chaired by Dr Shawn Sobers, associate professor of Cultural Interdisciplinary Practice at UWE.
  • 2.50pm – Summing up and final Q&A
  • 3.30pm – End

Image: ‘What no mother?’ by Sarah Waiswa

How to take part

This online talk will be held over Zoom. Please book your place below. Details of how to join the session will be in your registration email. Please check your spam folder if the email does not arrive. Bookings close at 9am on Wednesday 6 October

We would be grateful if you could consider making a donation.

Please visit the Zoom website for guidance on joining meetings. Please allow extra time before the talk begins to make sure everything is working correctly. It’s up to you whether you turn on your video but all guests will be muted once the talk begins. You are welcome to ask questions in the chat box throughout the talk.