Contact sheet at Mary Ellen Mark’s Encounters, C/O Berlin, October 2023

I’ve been lucky enough to see a few great photography exhibitions this year and thought I’d share some of the current highlights around Europe (some I’ve seen, some I haven’t)

Mary Ellen Mark – Encounters
C/O Berlin, until 18 January 2024
If you can possibly get to Berlin this is a do-not-miss at a gallery that I love. The huge exhibition demonstrates Mark’s skills, determination and hard work. Some of the content is distressing as she didn’t hold back from showing the hard lives many people live.
If you cannot get to the exhibition, the accompanying book makes a great alternative (or addition): Encounters, published by Steidl, with the English version due for publication 28 December 2023.

Daido Moriyama – Retrospective
The Photographers’ Gallery, London, until 25 February 2024
I missed getting to this in Berlin earlier this year, but it has now arrived in London and is high on my to do list. The exhibition brings together more than 200 works and large-scale installations, as well as many of Moriyama’s rare photobooks and magazines. One floor of the gallery has been transformed into a reading room – a dedicated space offering a rare opportunity to spend time with his legendary publications.

Ara Güler  – A Play of Light and Shadow
Foam, Amsterdam, until 8 November 2023
I love Güler’s photography and am sad that I’m not going to make it to Amsterdam in time to enjoy this exhibition.
This exhibition is the result of a close collaboration between Foam’s co-curator Ahmet Polat and the Ara Güler Museum. It comprises four sections, The Iconic, The Historic, The Ambassador, and The Personal, the visitor is immersed in Güler’s photographic practice from his iconic work as a photojournalist to his remarkable experimental work.

Wide-Angle View
RIBA, London, until 24 February 2024
Through the lens of the pages of the Architectural Review magazine, this is an exhibition on the Manplan series, a ground-breaking exploration of architecture’s impact on society. It shows over 70 original photographs, some that have never been seen before, offering unique insights on society in the late 1960s. 

A World in Common: Contemporary African Photography
Tate Modern, London, until 14 January 2023
Using the photography, film and audio works of a group of artists of different generations, this exhibition shows how such work has been used to reimagine Africa’s diverse cultures and historical narratives.

Stockholm – Pieces of a City
Fotografiska, Stockholm, until 14 January 2024
In the 1980s, photographer Bruno Ehrs joined forces with the musician Tom Wolgers in Stockholm. Together, they headed out into the sleeping city’s early mornings, where Ehrs photographed and Wolgers recorded the urban soundscape. Their work resulted in two exhibitions, and just over 30 years later these works are being combined in an exhibition at Stockolm’s Fotografiska.

Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize
National Portrait Gallery, London, 9 November 2023 – 25 February 2024
It is great news that this display of wonderful portraits returns to the NPG this year. And all the better because I know one of the selected photographers. The prize winners will be announced on 6 November and the exhibition opens 9 November.

Hiroshi Sugimoto
Hayward Gallery, London, 11 October 2023 – 7 January 2024
This exhibition features key works from all of Sugimoto’s major photographic series, highlighting his philosophical yet playful inquiry into our understanding of time and memory, and photography’s ability to both document and invent. Also included are lesser-known works that reveal the artist’s interest in the history of photography, as well as in mathematics and optical sciences. 

That was just a small pick from the vast array of exhibitions on at the moment – so don’t feel restrained, just get out and enjoy and do drop a comment here if you have something to recommend.

Copyright Debbie Smyth, 7 October 2023

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