Dates:
9 Oct 2024 - 23 Feb 2025
Location:
The Photographers' Gallery
The Photographers’ Gallery and International Curators Forum (ICF) present an archival exhibition bringing into focus two editions of Ten.8, Black Image and Body Politics, to open up a wider conversation about the legacy of the renowned photography journal.
Ten.8 was a renowned journal launched in 1978 with the initial stated aim of providing a forum for West Midlands-based photographers to come together and share images and ideas. It quickly became a national and then internationally-focused publication and was described by the Jamaican-born scholar Professor Stuart Hall as:
“the journal which has most systematically explored the relationship between how we represent the world photographically, the knowledge which these images produce and their implications for power and politics”.
This exhibition brings into focus two editions of Ten.8, Black Image and Body Politics, produced in collaboration with The Photographers’ Gallery in 1984 and 1987 respectively, by activating this rich history through text, design and archival material. Using these two issues as a departure point, Ten.8 In Focus: The legacy of Black Image and Body Politics aims to open up a wider conversation about the legacy of Ten.8. In doing so, we wish to illustrate how Ten.8 explored the importance of photography and how images are inscribed with meaning. We are opening the exhibition in 2024 to mark the 40th anniversary of the publication of the Black Image issue.
When the last edition, Critical Decade, was published in 1992, Ten.8 had developed into an internationally acclaimed journal with distribution and a body of subscribers from all over the world. Ten.8 had a conceptual strategy beyond publishing and became a production studio for creative content and exhibitions. It was an influential artist meeting point for socially concerned creatives and facilitated direct access to Black Diasporic artists and writers. Ten.8 became a participatory hub that explored critical subjects such as social justice, identity politics, new technologies and surveillance in the 1980s’. These issues have become embedded in contemporary social, creative and educational dialogues today.
Ten.8 In Focus: The legacy of Black Image and Body Politics offers a snapshot of the dynamic and multifaceted ways in which Ten.8 explored ideas around power, representation, sexuality, race and photography. This examination of the journals demonstrates how pivotal and ahead of its time Ten.8 was during the “critical decade” of the 1980s and considers the ongoing relevance of these texts and images.
The exhibition is a collaboration between The Photographers’ Gallery and ICF and is curated by Ten.8 editors Derek Bishton and Darryl Georgiou.
ICF’s Ten.8 project and fellowship have received support from Foyle Foundation, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and Hutchins Center for African & African American Research.
About the Curators
Derek Bishton is an English journalist, writer and photographer. After periods working on regional newspapers, and as a publicist for the Birmingham Arts Lab, he co-founded a community design and photographic agency in Handsworth where the photographic magazine Ten.8 originated in 1978. It was published from Birmingham until 1992. He is currently working on a book about his work in Handsworth during the 70s and 80s.
Darryl Georgiou is an interdisciplinary artist and educator, exhibiting internationally and working across a range of media. He is currently working on a number of arts and socially engaged projects often exploring identity and cultural memory. He is also working on a photographic archive of his early documentary images of Handsworth during the 80s and 90s. As well as being a Ten.8 Director he was a picture editor and exhibitions manager of Ten.8 Touring.
The Photographers’ Gallery and International Curators Forum (ICF) present an archival exhibition bringing into focus two editions of Ten.8, Black Image and Body Politics, to open up a wider conversation about the legacy of the renowned photography journal.
Ten.8 was a renowned journal launched in 1978 with the initial stated aim of providing a forum for West Midlands-based photographers to come together and share images and ideas. It quickly became a national and then internationally-focused publication and was described by the Jamaican-born scholar Professor Stuart Hall as:
“the journal which has most systematically explored the relationship between how we represent the world photographically, the knowledge which these images produce and their implications for power and politics”.
This exhibition brings into focus two editions of Ten.8, Black Image and Body Politics, produced in collaboration with The Photographers’ Gallery in 1984 and 1987 respectively, by activating this rich history through text, design and archival material. Using these two issues as a departure point, Ten.8 In Focus: The legacy of Black Image and Body Politics aims to open up a wider conversation about the legacy of Ten.8. In doing so, we wish to illustrate how Ten.8 explored the importance of photography and how images are inscribed with meaning. We are opening the exhibition in 2024 to mark the 40th anniversary of the publication of the Black Image issue.
When the last edition, Critical Decade, was published in 1992, Ten.8 had developed into an internationally acclaimed journal with distribution and a body of subscribers from all over the world. Ten.8 had a conceptual strategy beyond publishing and became a production studio for creative content and exhibitions. It was an influential artist meeting point for socially concerned creatives and facilitated direct access to Black Diasporic artists and writers. Ten.8 became a participatory hub that explored critical subjects such as social justice, identity politics, new technologies and surveillance in the 1980s’. These issues have become embedded in contemporary social, creative and educational dialogues today.
Ten.8 In Focus: The legacy of Black Image and Body Politics offers a snapshot of the dynamic and multifaceted ways in which Ten.8 explored ideas around power, representation, sexuality, race and photography. This examination of the journals demonstrates how pivotal and ahead of its time Ten.8 was during the “critical decade” of the 1980s and considers the ongoing relevance of these texts and images.
The exhibition is a collaboration between The Photographers’ Gallery and ICF and is curated by Ten.8 editors Derek Bishton and Darryl Georgiou.
ICF’s Ten.8 project and fellowship have received support from Foyle Foundation, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and Hutchins Center for African & African American Research.
About the Curators
Derek Bishton is an English journalist, writer and photographer. After periods working on regional newspapers, and as a publicist for the Birmingham Arts Lab, he co-founded a community design and photographic agency in Handsworth where the photographic magazine Ten.8 originated in 1978. It was published from Birmingham until 1992. He is currently working on a book about his work in Handsworth during the 70s and 80s.
Darryl Georgiou is an interdisciplinary artist and educator, exhibiting internationally and working across a range of media. He is currently working on a number of arts and socially engaged projects often exploring identity and cultural memory. He is also working on a photographic archive of his early documentary images of Handsworth during the 80s and 90s. As well as being a Ten.8 Director he was a picture editor and exhibitions manager of Ten.8 Touring.
Dates:
9 Oct 2024 - 23 Feb 2025
Location:
The Photographers' Gallery
