Genesis is delighted to once again support Photo50 at London Art Fair; an annual exhibition of contemporary photography which provides a critical forum for examining some of the most distinctive elements of current photographic practice. The 2023 edition of the fair is curated by Pelumi Odubanjo and Katy Barron and supported by our Exhibition Printing and Installation Services.
‘Beautiful Experiments’ Photo50, curated by Pelumi Odubanjo and Katy Barron at London Art Fair
The 2023 edition of Photo50 brings together the work of a group of multigenerational women photographers whose practice engages with their diasporic heritage, and through their lens explores domestic life and the home as not only a physical place but also a space of memory and generational exchange.
The title is taken from the 2019 book Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Riotous Black Girls, Troublesome Women, and Queer Radicals by the American writer Saidiya Hartmann, who writes about the lives of Black women in the US through a lens of fiction, using photographs from the archive and taking a sensory approach to narrating such histories.
The majority of selected artists are based in the UK, but they have a range of diasporic heritages, with work that reflects their particular histories and ideas around the home.
Beautiful Experiments Artists
Marlene Smith
Maxine Walker
About Katy Barron and Pelumi Mulenga
Pelumi Odubanjo is a curator, researcher, and writer based in London. Her interests in contemporary art are cross-disciplinary, although her understanding is filtered through the lens of Photography which informs both her work as a curator and researcher. Pelumi works with artists, archives, and cultural artefacts to create and explore dialogues across a global African diaspora to disentangle our understanding of archival practice. Pelumi has a BA from Newcastle University in Fine Art, and an MA from Goldsmith’s, University of London in Contemporary Art Theory. She is currently a PhD candidate in History of Art at the University of Glasgow.
Her writing on contemporary photography, art, and culture has appeared in Magnum Photos, New Contemporaries, Artillery Magazine, Photoworks, and Photo Fringe amongst others. Pelumi currently works as an Curatorial Assistant at the Serpentine Galleries, and has curated at festivals and institutions such as Photo Oxford, 2021, the Tate Exchange at Tate Modern, 2020, Brighton Photo Fringe, 2020, and the Black Cultural Archives, 2020.
Katy Barron is a photography curator, mentor and advisor based in London. She has worked within the field of photography for the past 20 years, focusing on contemporary and twentieth century artists. Katy has undertaken a myriad of roles within the field – from Senior Director at Michael Hoppen Gallery to Chair of the Board of Photofusion. She currently works for the Maud Sulter Estate in Glasgow and is helping other women artists with issues around their archives, estates and legacies. Katy has a BA from the Courtauld Institute of Art and an M. Litt in the History of Art from Oxford University. She has curated numerous photographic exhibitions in the UK and abroad, most recently at Four Corners in Bethnal Green, St John’s College, Oxford as a part of the Photo Oxford festival and at Photofusion, Brixton.
London Art Fair 2023
18 – 22 January 2023 (preview day, 17 January 2023)
Business Design Centre, Islington
Explore an exceptional line-up of Modern and Contemporary galleries from across the globe, and experience sensational live performances, immersive installations, and an inspiring programme of talks and tours
Business Design Centre
52 Upper Street
Islington
London
N1 0QH
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