ARCHIVE: Imagining the East End

You must see this show!

                                                                                                                  
Cass Gallery 59-63 Whitechapel High Street E1 7PF

020 7320 1903 Aldgate East tube

2 October – 2 November 2014 www.eastendarchive.org

The Photomonth opening exhibition, 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 documentary practice to works of the imagination.

Books, essays, films and artifacts 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 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.

‘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

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

Archives Autograph ABP, Bishopsgate Institute, East End Archive, Eastside Community Heritage ‘Hidden Histories’, Hackney Archives, Theatre Royal Stratford East Archive, Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Whitechapel Gallery Archive.

ARCHIVE: Imagining the East End is curated by Sue Andrews & Mick Williamson, Photography Dept, Cass Faculty of Art, Architecture & Design, London Metropolitan University.