Archive: Imagining the East End

The Cass is delighted to announce Archive: Imagining The East End, an exhibition of photography and series of related events as part of Photomonth 2014.

Date: 1 October 2014

The Cass is delighted to announce Archive: Imagining The East End, an exhibition of photography and series of related events as part of Photomonth 2014.

Archive: Imagining the East End showcases the work of a diverse range of photographers whose work relates to the East End of London. The East End is understood here as both a geographic location and an intangible space, a perpetually shifting frontier within the urban sprawl of London that is part real and part imagined. As a reflection of this approach, the images range from traditional documentary practice to works of the imagination.

Books, essays, films and artefacts in the exhibition explore the shifting location of the East End; the role of other local archives; issues associated with digital archiving; using bodies of work in order to better understand the working methods of photographers; the relationship between myth and history in representations of the East End; found photographs; representing the 2012 Paralympians; the ‘archival turn’ in contemporary photography and a project to imagine Alfred Hitchcock’s East End childhood through photography.

The exhibition is accompanied by the book of the same name, published in December 2013 by Black Dog Publishing. The book is a companion to The East End Archive at The Cass, an online photographic resource intended for artists, academics and researchers from a cross-section of disciplines. It brings together both historic and contemporary collections.

The East End Archive Exhibition will be followed by UNCERTAIN STATES 2014 which opens in Early November, also part of Photomonth.

"An invaluable addition to British photographic archives and the attendant discourses and debates that are examined in the variety of approaches to the subject showcased in the book." Paul Hill MBE, Visiting Professor, De Montfort University and University of Derby

"The Cass East End archive is a brilliant idea. It's a wonderful and necessary project and resource" Grace Lau, photographer and author.

"Throughout the UK Museums, libraries, historical societies, government agencies, charities and trusts are wrestling with how better to understand the digital archive…The East End Archive at the Cass is a leader in the field." Zelda Cheatle

Exhibitors

Including work by the following artists, researchers and writers:

Photographers:
Don McCullin, Tom Hunter, Jenny Matthews, David Hoffman, Steven Berkoff, Ian Farrant, Rod Morris, Heather McDonough ,Susan Andrews, Mick Williamson, Brian Griffin ,David George, Spencer Rowell, Mike Seaborne, John Claridge, Joy Gregory, Maggie Pinhorn

Writers and Researchers:

Found Image Publishing Project: David Howells, Katherine Lazenby, Danny Flynn Estuary English: Michael Upton Shadows of Doubt: Nick Haeffner Digital Conservation Researchers: Graham Diprose, Mike Seaborne

New Projects in Progress, Cass staff and students: Pedro Montalvo, Will Vickers, Marcin Krupa, Marie Sleigh, Eric Boscia, Alex Grady, Andy Lawson.

Local Archives: Whitechapel, Autograph, Bishopsgate, Hackney Archives, Tower Hamlets Archives, Theatre Royal, Eastside Community Heritage.