Join a day-long workshop led by photographer Sim Chiyin, a Magnum Photos nominee and a doctoral researcher, exploring the complex and evolving ethical questions related to photography and contemporary image-making. The event includes a visit to the exhibition Don McCullin, and analysis and presentations by guest speakers, Imperial War Museum research curator Hilary Roberts and artist-educator Anthony Luvera.
The discussion will focus on two particular themes: the ethical dimensions of conflict photography and the ethics of social documentary practices. It will look at the ethical landscape in the history of photography and its evolution in our age of image ubiquity, and touch on both the philosophical conundrums in image-making, editing, curating and consumption, as well as practical controversies like manipulation in post-production. Broader issues that will be debated include questions of representation, authorship, guilt, consent, censorship and collaborative practice.
Please note that this event will discuss images and issues that might cause distress. Participants are encouraged to join the conversation in a supportive, safe and inclusive environment.
Biographies
Anthony Luvera
Anthony Luvera is a socially engaged artist, writer and educator who has collaborated with people who have experienced homelessness in cities and towns across the United Kingdom for over fifteen years. The long-term collaborative projects he creates with homeless people and other community groups have been exhibited widely in galleries, museums and public spaces, including Tate Liverpool, London Underground’s Art on the Underground, British Museum, National Portrait Gallery, Belfast Exposed Photography, Australian Centre for Photography, PhotoIreland, Malmö Fotobiennal, Goa International Photography Festival, and Les Recontres D’Arles Photographie. Anthony is Principal Lecturer and Course Director of MA Photography and Collaboration at Coventry University. He also designs and facilitates public education programmes and workshops for the National Portrait Gallery, Royal Academy of Arts, The Photographers’ Gallery, Barbican Art Gallery, Magnum, and community photography projects across the UK.
Hilary Roberts
Hilary Roberts is Senior Curator of Photography at Imperial War Museums (IWM), Britain’s national museum of modern conflict. She studied at universities in England and Germany before joining IWM’s Photograph Archive in 1980. A specialist in the history and practice of conflict photography, Hilary has numerous publications and exhibitions to her name, including IWM’s highly praised trilogy of exhibitions Don McCullin: Shaped by War (2010-2012), Cecil Beaton: Theatre of War (2012) and Lee Miller: A Woman’s War (2015 – 2016). She works closely with photographers, curators, researchers and writers who document or respond to contemporary conflict. She is also an advisor to the VII Foundation and Canon. In 2017, she received the Royal Photographic Society’s Curatorship Award.
Sim Chi Yin
Sim Chi Yin (b. 1978, Singapore) is a photographer and doctoral researcher focusing on history, memory and migration and its consequences. She is a Magnum Photos nominee and is based between London and Beijing. The Nobel Peace Prize photographer for 2017, her photographs and film installations have been exhibited at the Istanbul Biennale 2017, the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, the Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore, Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art in South Korea among others. An inaugural Magnum Foundation Photography and Social Justice fellow in 2010 in New York, she won the Chris Hondros Fund award in 2018.