“In the social jungle of human existence, there is no feeling of being alive without a sense of identity.” These are the words of Erik Erikson, a renowned American child psychologist who focused on the social development of human beings. He is credited with coining the phrase “identity crisis.” It is part of the human experience to ponder the question – who am I? Where do I come from? The answer to this is complex and as unique to each person as a fingerprint. There are countless things that can shape a person – their parents and families, the towns and countries in which they grew up, whether they moved abroad, how they feel about their ancestral and national histories, their friends, their experiences. The photographers included in this list are concerned with the messy business of capturing and defining an identity. Omar Victor Diop deals with African identity, the way that this has been perceived globally and how historical figures are remembered. The idea of home plays out at The Photographers’ Gallery, as Gohar Dashti and Hamed Noori ponder the diasporic experience. Tjitske Sluis’ intimate portraits of his late mother bring into focus the way that our families and relationships shape us. Each artist adds a piece to the puzzle of how we think about ourselves, our communities and how we fit into the world. 

Cultural identity, home and displacement are at the heart of this exhibition at The Photographer’s Gallery. Reimagined Landscapes brings together works from Gohar Dashti & Hamed Noori, Cyrus Mahboubian and Qui Yangzi – each artist treating the landscape as a central character in their exploration of memory, displacement and the human condition. Gohar Dashti (b. 1980) transforms the natural world in collaboration with Hamed Noori (b. 1979). They use geometric shapes, rooted in Islamic art, to merge landscapes from their current home in the US with those from their homeland in Iran. The fragmented images see the familiar spaces literally cut up, creating reconstructed and surreal scenes that reflect the search for belonging amidst cultural dualities and our disjointed relationship to the natural environment. 

Photography has played a vital role in documenting and memorialising historical moments since the invention of the form. Think of how Blue Marble, an image taken of the Earth by the final Apollo space mission, has shaped how humanity considers the planet and our relationship to its conservation, or how the V-J Day photograph of a young couple kissing has taken on a mythology all of its own. Now, Navigating the Waves explores the role the medium played in Cuba’s history, from promoting the Revolution after Fidel Castro’s 1959 overthrow of the Batista government to engaging in social and political critique following the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. The photographers featured create powerful expressions of their experience of Cuban identity, the body and spirit, Afro-Cuban heritage.  

Senegalese photographer Omar Victor Diop (b. 1980) casts himself as the protagonist in significant moments in African history. His work spotlights landmark moments in the history of Black people, staged with himself as a stand-in for those involved in the original events. His series, Diaspora (2014) focuses on the less spoken role of Africans outside of the content, considering how they shaped European history. Inspired by Baroque artworks created between the 15^th and 19^th centuries, Diop began researching the project during a four-month residency in Spain. The product of this is a blending of the modern and traditional, with classical setups interrupted by sporting items. The artist used references to football to show the duality of living a life of glory and recognition, whilst facing the challenges of being “other.”

In 1983, Baldwin Lee (b. 1951) set out on a journey of self-discovery photographing his adopted homeland – the American South. His artistic goal was to partially re-trace the 1930s and 1940s route made across the area by his mentor, Walker Evans. He came to document the lives and communities of Black Americans, many of whom were living in poverty. Lee travelled thousands of miles and produced almost 10,000 compassionate portraits. In an interview with The Guardian, he said: “every photograph was…an interchange of conversation and ideas and then the granting of permission. It was a very straightforward exchange, because I had no ulterior motive. I was just interested in each person as an individual.” Fifty of these remarkable images are now on display at Ogden Museum of Southern Art.

Now in its 17^th year, the Taylor Wessing Portrait Award celebrates a diverse range of images and tells the fascinating stories behind the creation of the work, from formal commissioned portraits to more spontaneous and intimate portraits capturing family and friends. Adam Ferguson documents the ancient and vast lands of the Australian bush. He observes the fading yet iconic events of rural life, shrinking small towns, Aboriginal connection to the land and the impacts of globalisation. Elsewhere, Tjitske Sluis’ breathtakingly intimate pictures of his late mother document her last days in an attempt to remind us that dying is not a negative phenomenon we should hide from, but instead an inevitable part of our lives that we should dedicate more time to thinking about and learning how to cope with its certainty. 

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Words: Emma Jacob