This May, photography shows across the world revisit historic moments in art and bring both emerging names and overlooked figures to light. They demonstrate how the lens can be used to record the distinctive identity of a place and make visible the often intangible realities of modern life. A new show at Foto Arsenal Wien guides audiences through the legacy of renowned agency Magnum Photo, whilst ICA Boston revisits a 1998 exhibition held at its gallery. Mead Gallery, Warwick presents the first European retrospective of photographer Mao Ishikawa, whose works are an intimate look at 20^th century Japanese society. Elsewhere, Oli Kellett and Mette Tronvoll find the beauty in the everyday. 

Oli Kellett’s (b. 1983) series Cross Road Blues was an international success, taking snapshots of people waiting at intersections around the world. Now, the artist continues his exploration of the urban environment with Fountains. Here, the focus is shifted from wide cityscapes to the delicate, often unseen beauty of the beads of water that have been propelled into the air by fountains in Trafalgar Square, London. The artist says: “I watched the tiny droplets of water, almost completely weightless, and at the mercy of the slightest breeze, magical as they disperse through the crowds.” Kellett embraces chance, surrendering control to the atmosphere of wind, light and weather – until the perfect shot reveals itself. The works also continue the artist’s tendency to evoke periods of art history. The fragmented droplets echo the pointillist technique of Seurat, whilst others recall the dreamlike qualities of masters like Monet. 

Mao Ishikawa 

Mead Gallery, Warwick | Until 23 June

Mao Ishikawa (b. 1953) is often referred to as “the Nan Goldin of Japan.” Her work echoes Goldin’s commitment to authenticity and desire to capture the reality of life for those who are often overlooked. Ishikawa came to public prominence in the late 1970s with her radical, documentary-style series, Red Flower, The Women of Okinawa(1975-1977). Originally published in the photobook, Hot Days in Camp Hansen (1982), the images reflect the lives of women living in the shadow of a US airbase and their relationships with African American servicemen. The candid style and immediacy of these pictures also captures the rapport Ishikawa developed with her subjects by living alongside them – an approach she has maintained throughout her career. Mead Gallery’s exhibition is Ishikawa’s first solo show in Europe, offering an unmissable opportunity to encounter one of Japan’s most compelling lens-based artists.  

In 1998, the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston presented an exhibition called The Quiet in the Land: Everyday Life, Contemporary Art and the Shakers. The show featured work by artists such as Chen Zhen, Janine Antoni, Kazumi Tanaka and Wolfgang Tillmans. ICA Director Ellen Matilda Poss invited artists to live, work and worship in the only remaining active Shaker community in the USA. The radical Christian sect arrived in the country 250 years ago, and since then has occupied a unique and romatic place in American national identity and the public imagination. The project “sought to probe conventional notions of gender, work and spirituality, to redefine the making and experiencing of art and to challenge the widespread belief that art and life exist in separate realms.” Now, more than 25 years on, ICA returns to this landmark show with a new iteration. Believers places artists from the 1998 residency in dialogue with emerging practitioners who continue to take inspiration from the utopian community. 

Mette Tronvoll (b. 1965) spent two years travelling around Hidra, a picturesque island off the coast of Flekkefjord in Southern Norway. The rural location is worthy of a fairytale, where shimmering lakes and serene landscapes meet jagged cliff faces and misty horizons. Tronvoll chronicles four distinct phases of the island’s history: prehistoric times, the late 18^th century, WWII and the island’s contemporary life, which come together to tell a comprehensive story of this remarkable place. The images feel as though they’ve captured a moment trapped in time, made all the stronger by the artist’s commitment to analogue. In an interview with Forbes she explains: “sometimes I feel like an antiquity myself, walking around with my Hasselblad camera … But on the other hand, you would never have had that saturation of colour or depth of field with digital. It’s all about the material and the craft, because I think good art is based on craft.”

Photography played a vital role in WWII. The global conflict was one of the first to see cameras widely used as a tool to document the horrors of combat. It brought the realities of the frontlines to people at home through newspapers and magazines. In 1947, Magnum Photos was established by four artists who had experienced and recorded the war first-hand: David “Chim” Seymour, George Rodger, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Capa. The collective stood up for the image rights of photographers and set the tone in international photojournalism. This exhibition addresses the significance of photography as a widespread cultural technique. Presented chronologically, the display presents more than three hundred images and objects from seven decades of world events, including photo essays from WWII; portraits of historic figures like Che Guevara, Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X; trackside mourners paying their last respects to Robert F. Kennedy; life on the subway in New York; and portraits of the British royal family.  

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Words: Emma Jacob

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Image credits:

1&6. The sixth day of protests against the introduction of a more restrictive abortion ban. Crowds
protesting in front of the Polish parliament building, Warsaw, Poland, 28 October 2020.
© Rafal Milach/Magnum Photos.

2. Fountains #1 © Oli Kellett, (Courtesy of HackelBury Fine Art, London).

3. Mao Ishikawa, Here’s What The Japanese Flag Means to Me (1993-2011). © Mao Ishikawa.

 

4. Wolfgang Tillmans Shaker/ICA Boston installation. 1998/2025 Color photographs (130 total) Approximately 118 images: 4 × 6 inches (10.2 × 15.2 cm) (each) Approximately 11 images: 12 × 16 inches (30.5 × 40.6 cm) (each)1 bubble jet print: 102 × 70 inches (259 × 177.8 cm)Courtesy the artist; David Zwirner, Hong Kong and New York; Galerie Buchholz, Berlin andCologne; and Maureen Paley, London

5. Mette Tronvoll, 23.11.23,Color photograph from color negative. Photo Øystein Thorvaldsen. ©Mette Tronvoll BONO.