London Trip Exhibition-Edmund Clark: War of Terror & The Radical Eye: Modernist Photography

First Year

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This thought-provoking exhibition brings together several series of work by artist-photographer Edmund Clark to explore the hidden experiences of state control during the 'Global War on Terror'.

Looking at issues of security, secrecy, representation and legality, the show focuses on the measures taken by states to protect their citizens from the threat of terrorism, and the far-reaching effects of such methods of control.

 

 

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The exhibition brings together several series of Clark's work including images and documents of CIA operated secret prisons or 'black sites', photographs from the detention camps at Guantanamo Bay, correspondence from around the world sent to a British detainee in Guantanamo that was transformed by the censorship and intervention of the US military, and the experience of a 'controlled person' who was placed in a house in suburban England under the restrictive conditions of a control order – a form of house arrest or detention without trial – introduced in 2005.

 

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Front bedroom in the 'Control Order House' where Edmund Clark stayed

In December 2011 and January 2012, Clark was given exclusive access to a house in suburban England in which a British man suspected of involvement in terrorist-related activity was living under the terms of a Home Office enforced Control Order, a form of detention without trial based on secret evidence.

This photograph is taken from the final section of the exhibition, 'Control Order House', which explores the living environment of a 'controlled person' who'd been relocated and placed under a curfew with restricted movement and communication to the outside world.

 

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The Radical Eye: Modernist Photography

This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see one of the world’s greatest private collections of photography, drawn from the classic modernist period of the 1920s–50s. An incredible group of Man Ray portraits are exhibited together for the first time, having been brought together by Sir Elton John over the past twenty-five years, including portraits of Matisse, Picasso, and Breton.

 

With over 70 artists and nearly 150 rare vintage prints on show from seminal figures including Brassai, Imogen Cunningham, André Kertész, Dorothea Lange, Tina Modotti, and Aleksandr Rodchenko, this is a chance to take a peek inside Elton John’s home and delight in seeing such masterpieces of photography.

 

# My thought

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When I looked around Clark’s works, which I felt the style is similar to Murray Ballard’s. They both give you a sense of intensely psychological tension and their strong feeling of atmosphere, even it just a photograph, but viewers can experience it. I remember that there is a video room, you can hear at least four people are talking at the same time, not having a conversation, for me, it is easily to figure out which person and what she/he is talking about, the reason is I was training by the similar way since I was a junior student. However, for some people, they probably can’t stand it and the effect brings about stress. Personally, I don’t what is the connection between this and Clark’s works but, they both cause the same stress to audience. 

 

It is pities that photographing is banned in The Radical Eye exhibition, but interesting to see different period and how photography has changed since the past to present. Additionally, this is the easy way to understand how photography is used in each period as well as developing darkroom techniques, generally, this exhibition helped me learn more about photographic history.

 

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