EVENT: Cass to host Janet Hall Memorial Lecture News from the School of Art, Architecture and Design

Leading photographer Laura Pannack will speak about her personal projects at an event organised with London Independent Photographers.

Date: 19 November 2019

The 2019 Jane Hall Memorial Lecture will be delivered by award–winning photographer Laura Pannack on the 21 November at 6.30pm at The Cass, London Metropolitan University.

London-based photographer Laura Pannack is renowned for her recognisable portraiture and social documentary artwork, which often seeks to explore the complex relationship between subject and photographer. Her work heavily focuses on the youth and has been extensively exhibited throughout the UK and abroad, including at The National Portrait Gallery, Somerset House, the Royal Festival Hall and the Houses of Parliament.

Driven by research-led, self-initiated projects, Pannack seeks to fully understand the lives of those she captures on film in order to portray them as truthfully as possible. Perceiving “time, trust and understanding” to be the key elements to achieving this, many of her projects develop over several years, helping her achieve a genuine connection between herself and her sitter and allowing her to capture the intimacy, shared ideas and shared experiences of this relationship.

Pannack chooses to shoot with analogue film on her personal projects. By using traditional methods of working from negatives, as well as shooting with Polaroid, she finds beauty in the mistakes that come from working with unpredictable material.

Her artwork has received much acclaim and won numerous awards, among which are the John Kobal Award, Vic Odden prize, World Photo Press Awards and the HSBC Prix de la Photographie prize.

In addition to her own practice, Pannack lectures, critiques and teaches at universities, workshops and festivals around the world, and in 2015, judged the portrait category in World Photo Press Awards in Amsterdam.

Pannack has also been widely published, both commercially and as a photographic artist, with work appearing in The British Journal of Photography, Hotshoe International, TIME, The Guardian Weekend, The Telegraph, The Sunday Times, Creative Review. Her monograph ‘Against the dying of the light’ was published by Acts de Suds in 2016 and YOUTH Vol 1 was released in 2018 by Polite company.

Talking about the Janet Hall Memorial Lecture, Pannack said, “I will be speaking about how I combine my interests in psychology and photography to work on long-term personal projects. I will give a short introduction to my work and then will be discussing how and why I work on projects for many years and what themes seem to arise time after time. I’ll talk about my failures and my experiences and hope to then have a wonderful open discussion about our love for image making.”

The lecture is being held in partnership between London Independent Photography and the Sir John Cass School of Art, Architecture and Design at London Metropolitan University and is the first of four events which will take place over this academic year. London Independent Photography is a community organisation for amateur and professional photographers with more than 500 members. Their activities are designed to bring together photographers with different interests and levels of expertise who wish to develop their personal approach to photography, improve their skills and gain recognition for their work.

Tickets for the Janet Hall Memorial Lecture are £12 for non-members and £10 for members in advance and £15 on the door. Admission is free to London Metropolitan University students and staff with valid ID.

Image: Mouldy and Cara (Detail) from Young Love project by Laura Pannack.