Bruised Lands brings together five unique, yet interconnected bodies of work, created over twelve years by documentary photographer and filmmaker Alan Gignoux in collaboration with the team at Gignoux Photos: Appalachia: Mountaintops to Moonscapes, Monuments, Oil Sands, Russian Rust Belt, and The Powers That Be.

Bruised Lands documents the relentless harvesting of natural assets and is a graphic and timely testament to the serious impact that industrial processes are having on the global environmental crisis.

Alan Gignoux is an award-winning documentary photographer and filmmaker. He specialises in long form documentary projects that explore an issue and its impact on communities over a long period of time, sometimes several years. He is the founder of Gignouxphotos, which produces documentary projects focussing on socio-political and environmental issues around the world. Gignouxphotos combines photography, video, interviews, research, and writing in creative and innovative ways to create layered projects offering multiple perspectives. Combining the skills of a team of freelance arts specialists, Gignouxphotos operates as a studio, producing exhibitions, photographer’s books, newspapers and zines, exhibitions, and documentaries.

Charlotte Hartley is a portrait and documentary photographer based in London. Driven by curiosity, her personal work immerses both herself and the viewer into other peoples worlds; celebrating the everyday and often exploring niche communities or sub-cultures. With an attentive nature, she seeks to capture the smaller details, in-between moments and the interplay between people and their surroundings.

Green as Grass is a personal project that explores the UK's unsung Western Riding culture.

Fascinated by how and why this culture made its way to the UK, Charlotte has spent the last year photographing shows, training clinics, and days on a working cattle farm. Honing in on the traditional Western attire, the nuances between horse breeds, and the camaraderie at shows, Charlotte has been able to observe and learn from those who are passionate about Western Riding, and embrace it as both a sport and a way of life.

With a greater insight into the subtle riding techniques, the finesse of training, the specifics of different disciplines, and even the clichés that surround it - this body of work sheds light on the practice of Western Riding and ultimately celebrates a community that many people may not have known existed in the UK.

Key event details: 

• 40 minute 1-to-1, in-person sessions with the Darklight Team at Photobook Cafe

• Bring your book, your latest personal project or your website and sit down with the Darklight team, to get advice and an expert eye on your work 

• 24 slots available (first come first served)

• £50.00 per slot 

• Dates: Wed 20th Nov, Thurs 21st Nov, Wed 11th Dec, Thurs 12th Dec 

About Darklight:

Over the past 20 years Darklight have worked as art buyers for ad agencies [M&C Saatchi, Adam&EveBBDO & Ogilvy to name a few] as well as producers & photo agents.

Founded by Mimi Gray and Sarah Williams, Darklight’s previous clients include Zalando, Nike, Hennessy, Adidas, Google, Matchroom, Vogue and many many more.

Over our time in the industry we've seen more photographers' books than we could possibly count and it's one of the things we love most about our job.

We're excited to meet Photographers and their work at Photobook Cafe :)

Sarah Bio (Art Buyer & Darklight Founder)

With over 15 years of experience in the arts, photography, advertising, and media, Sarah is an accomplished producer, commissioner, and curator. In 2020, she co-founded Darklight, a photography platform and production company specialising in art buying and creative collaborations, with her business partner Mimi Gray.

Throughout her career, Sarah has commissioned artists for some of the world’s most iconic brands, curated numerous exhibitions, served on the board of the Association of Photographers, and contributed to the industry as a panellist and awards judge, including for the BBC’s Great British Photography Challenge.

A dedicated advocate for accessibility and diversity within the creative industry, Sarah mentors emerging talent, including through Soho House’s Open House program, supporting young creatives from low socioeconomic backgrounds. She is committed to fostering a more inclusive creative landscape by championing diverse voices and perspectives.

Brands partnered with include:
Vogue, Coca-Cola, Coach, Calvin Klein, Adidas, Belstaff, NatWest, BMW, Canon, W Hotels, Peroni, Havana Club, TFL, Virgin Active, Hennessy, Nike, Virgin Atlantic, and many more.

Writing, judging, and public speaking engagements:
BBC, The Old Bank Vault Gallery, It’s Nice That, Creative Review, The Moniker Art Fair, YCN, Le Book, The AOP, The Art Conference, Mastered, Lecture in Progress

Gabby Bio (Art Buyer)

Gabby is an art buyer and designer at Darklight, with experience at agencies like M&C Saatchi, adam&eveDDB, and photo agencies. She’s passionate about design and storytelling, and loves working with photographers to help them refine their portfolios, build their personal branding, and create a visual identity that truly connects. At Darklight, Gabby brings her expertise to support creatives in showcasing their best work and making a lasting impact.

If you’re unable to attend but would like to be a part of the Darklight community feel free to join our WhatsApp Group!

Which is a safe space for pro photographers to share their experience and advice and info with one another - discuss photography trends, kit, hacks and tips. 

David Clerihew’s photography spans global advertising campaigns and art projects that explore human stories. His recent exploration of the Isle of Skye examines the emotional impact of nature.

Clerihew's work is held in the National Portrait Gallery and has been exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts, London.

David Clerihew's America is the result of 12 years exploring the country, capturing its cultural diversity and contradictions, particularly its complex relationship with guns. Through over one hundred portraits, he creates a visual census of American life, while his landscapes depict everyday spaces that reflect the American dream. Gun culture became a central theme, as Clerihew's visits often coincided with mass shootings, prompting his work to question what freedom truly means in a nation where firearms are symbols of both liberty and violence.

Social Media:

@davidclerihew @crxss_agency

Key event details: 

• 40 minute 1-to-1, in-person sessions with the Darklight Team at Photobook Cafe

• Bring your book, your latest personal project or your website and sit down with the Darklight team, to get advice and an expert eye on your work 

• 24 slots available (first come first served)

• £50.00 per slot 

• Dates: Wed 20th Nov, Thurs 21st Nov, Wed 11th Dec, Thurs 12th Dec 

About Darklight:

Over the past 20 years Darklight have worked as art buyers for ad agencies [M&C Saatchi, Adam&EveBBDO & Ogilvy to name a few] as well as producers & photo agents.

Founded by Mimi Gray and Sarah Williams, Darklight’s previous clients include Zalando, Nike, Hennessy, Adidas, Google, Matchroom, Vogue and many many more.

Over our time in the industry we've seen more photographers' books than we could possibly count and it's one of the things we love most about our job.

We're excited to meet Photographers and their work at Photobook Cafe :)

Sarah Bio (Art Buyer & Darklight Founder)

With over 15 years of experience in the arts, photography, advertising, and media, Sarah is an accomplished producer, commissioner, and curator. In 2020, she co-founded Darklight, a photography platform and production company specialising in art buying and creative collaborations, with her business partner Mimi Gray.

Throughout her career, Sarah has commissioned artists for some of the world’s most iconic brands, curated numerous exhibitions, served on the board of the Association of Photographers, and contributed to the industry as a panellist and awards judge, including for the BBC’s Great British Photography Challenge.

A dedicated advocate for accessibility and diversity within the creative industry, Sarah mentors emerging talent, including through Soho House’s Open House program, supporting young creatives from low socioeconomic backgrounds. She is committed to fostering a more inclusive creative landscape by championing diverse voices and perspectives.

Brands partnered with include:
Vogue, Coca-Cola, Coach, Calvin Klein, Adidas, Belstaff, NatWest, BMW, Canon, W Hotels, Peroni, Havana Club, TFL, Virgin Active, Hennessy, Nike, Virgin Atlantic, and many more.

Writing, judging, and public speaking engagements:
BBC, The Old Bank Vault Gallery, It’s Nice That, Creative Review, The Moniker Art Fair, YCN, Le Book, The AOP, The Art Conference, Mastered, Lecture in Progress

Gabby Bio (Art Buyer)

Gabby is an art buyer and designer at Darklight, with experience at agencies like M&C Saatchi, adam&eveDDB, and photo agencies. She’s passionate about design and storytelling, and loves working with photographers to help them refine their portfolios, build their personal branding, and create a visual identity that truly connects. At Darklight, Gabby brings her expertise to support creatives in showcasing their best work and making a lasting impact.

If you’re unable to attend but would like to be a part of the Darklight community feel free to join our WhatsApp Group!

Which is a safe space for pro photographers to share their experience and advice and info with one another - discuss photography trends, kit, hacks and tips. 

Join us for the launch of Anecdotes from the Edge of a Hole, a picture book by Yuchen Li. Through three love stories, this work explores the experience of being an outsider—of existing at the threshold between inside and outside, whether in bodies, relationships, communities, or the world itself, as seen through the lens of London.

Readings & performance by: Ariella Fisher @ariella_f.isher Athena Mothership @athenamothership Clara Ada Mantegazza @claramntgz Daoguang Wu @codywu_island Julian Konuk @video___jockey Kangyue Zhang @zhangkangyue_ Xiao Yang @xiao0415 Yuchen Li @xuermeimei

Curated by Yuchen Li @xuermeimei

Bring friends, dates, and family for an evening of art, stories, and performances. Readings & performances begin at 7 PM. All are welcome!

Social Media:

@xuermeimei

Not only a place to shelter, home contains a complex meaning to individuals, the space condenses memory and knowledge into materiality, and embodies the history of the body. Like other beings, humans create and copy the space of belonging while adapting to another environment, which becomes a manifestation of identity. This workshop welcomes participants to unfold the meaning of making home through imagining, measuring the space with participants’ own bodies, creating symbols, and storytelling via drawing and sharing, to discover alternative ways of mapping personal narratives and history.  

Sharo’s workshop is coined with her research essay Migratory Space in Working In Progress: Reimagine the Identity in Urban Spectrum. Focusing on Herianto Sulindro’s trajectory and the process of homemaking. Herianto is a Chinese-Indonesian architect based in Zürich who dedicated his whole life to urban planning and architecture between Switzerland and Indonesia from 1960 to the 1990s. Sharo is interested in the colliding cultural elements and personal touch of Herianto’s curation of his home in Zürich. Inspired by rich signs and graphic symbols in architectural blueprints, she attempted to apply her research and practice to weave dialogues discussing how individuals build and portray the abstract yet tangible meaning of home from different generations and life journeys.  

Porkies brings together four artists—Bella Kemp, Jack Sproston, Noah Kim and Toby Marshall—whose works investigate the blurred lines between truth, fiction, and the fantasies we create to navigate the world around us. The exhibition explores how fabrications, storytelling, and alternate realities permeate our collective understanding, challenging viewers to question what is real, what is imagined and indulge in fantasy.

Taking its title from the British slang word for lies, the exhibition invites viewers to question the authenticity of narratives and consider how much of our understanding is shaped by perception and myth.

Social Media

@_bellakemp @tobyandthecarvery @jacksproston @noahtinkim

Photographer Sam Batley Debuts Solo Show and Book Launch, "Standing In the Same River Twice," Presented by Satellite Gallery at Photobook Cafe

Artist Biography:

Sam Batley is a multidisciplinary artist, socially engaged photographer and writer based between Liverpool and Barnsley.

He responds to life’s dualities, navigating the eternal dance that unites them. Fear and faith, isolation and loss of purpose, to the joys and interconnectedness of community.

Leaning into his lived experience through the creative process, Batley engages in a call and response between the internal and external, nurturing the seeds of ideas that come through this conversation into their fruiting bodies.

Exhibition

Satellite Gallery is proud to present "Standing In the Same River Twice", the first solo exhibition and book launch by acclaimed photographer Sam Batley.

The exhibition and book launch will be held on November 13th, 2024, from 6 PM to 9 PM.

Sam Batley's photography captures the nuanced beauty of everyday life, with a special focus on the landscape and community of his hometown Barnsley, Northern England. His work reflects an intimate connection to place, infusing ordinary moments with a sense of nostalgia and resilience. "Standing In the Same River Twice" explores themes of memory, change, and the enduring presence of the past in the present, as Sam ‘visits the ghost of himself’.

This exhibition marks a significant milestone in Batley’s career as both an artist and documentarian, offering a deeply personal narrative through the medium of photography. In conjunction with the exhibition, Batley will be releasing a limited edition photobook under the same title, featuring a collection of his works alongside new material exclusive to the publication.

Satellite Gallery, known for supporting creatives in the global contemporary art scene, is thrilled to collaborate with Photobook Cafe, a space that brings together photography enthusiasts, artists, and publishers. This partnership highlights Satellite Gallery's ongoing commitment to providing a platform for emerging talent while fostering creative dialogue within the global arts community.

Social Media: @sambatley @satellite.gallery

As part of Fotonow's 'South West Graduate Photography Prize 2024' exhibition at the Photo Book Cafe (London) the team will be running a creative guided wellbeing FOTO WALK around the streets of London.

Starting at 12pm at the Photo Book Cafe participants will enjoy making new connections with people and place during a 2 hour walk around the city. The session will start with introductions over a coffee / tea (included in the £12 fee for joining) and sharing of planning route (and mobile number of our lead photographer).

Our group will return by 2.30pm to share images and if willing pass onto the Fotonow team favourites that can be celebrated at a later date. Anyone with access needs or additional support taking part please do get in touch and we'll look to make this event work for you!

You'll also need to bring your camera or smartphone... additional details to follow for those that book on!

info@fotonow.org

-

THE SOUTH WEST GRADUATE PHOTOGRAPHY PRIZE

www.fotonow.org/swgpp

www.facebook.com/SouthWestGraduatePhotographyPrize

www.instagram.com/swgradphotoprize/

Join photographer Viviana Almas, for a hands-on intuitive portrait workshop, as part of the South West Graduate Photography Prize 2024.

The launch event for Zimmers of Southall will be hosted by Raj Dhunna as he converses with Hark1karan followed by a A&Q. The audience section will conclude with a screening of Hark1karan and Alex Donaldson's new short documentary, 'A Portrait of Central Hill'. Books will be signed before and after the talk.

Zimmers of Southall is a documentary photo book delving into the rich layers of Panjabi culture in West London and a new way of capturing modern Britain.

 Zimmers of Southall will be Hark1karan’s 3rd self-published book after PIND and KISAAN. Captured between 2019 and 2024, Zimmers of Southall is a photo book by Hark1karan, that offers a deeply personal exploration of the culture and evolving landscape of Southall, West London, and life in modern Britain.

The book captures the intricate layers of Southall through images of tradition, faith, caste, grassroots protest, relationships, and city life. It documents how ideas and cultures are not fixed to one place but adapt and evolve, reflecting the dynamic nature of modern British life.

As a first-generation Londoner, Hark1karan uses photography to extend their lived experience into a broader conversation about tradition, adaptation, and the fluidity of cultural expression. "For me, the photographs are an extension of my lived experience," says Hark1karan. "The book is a conversation with those who have similar backgrounds and those outside the culture who find something relatable in the story. It's about more than just cars; it's about how communities adapt and thrive."

Social Handles
@hark1karan

@rajdraws

Join us in exploring the satirical appreciation of unfiltered Fashion Photography for our second quarterly open call exhibition ‘Gorecore’.

Taking inspiration from Francesca's Granata’s writings on Experimental Fashion, Carnival and the Grotesque Body the exhibition will see the proliferation of the grotesque within contemporary Fashion Photography, and the position these photographs hold within popular culture. 

_

Selected Photographers:

Ofek Avshalom , Pip Jukes , George Cabré, Elena Petitti di Roreto , Skyhoje, Gaayein Jiaxian Peng, Lola Li, Emmeline Morris, Ruth McKeand , Billie Stringer, Mandy Izquierdo, Adam M E Dixon, Xuan Feng, Britta Burger, Hannah Baum, Gia Jones

Claudia Cantarini, Matt Holland, Luca Venerus, Lydia Milne, Jered Aitken.

_

Supported by Rapid Eye Darkrooms: rapideye.uk.com

Many thanks to our guest judges:

Jordan Hemingway @jordan_hemingway

August Sombatkamrai: brothermodels.com @imonaugust

Sam found his passion for photography photographing D.I.Y punk gigs in pub basements around his home town of Sheffield. Sam’s approach to photography is about story telling, creating connections with both people and places and finding beauty in the overlooked and everyday.

He documents his experiences in a considered, stylised, colourful and tangible way, for personal, editorial and commissioned projects. Sam’s work always centres around beautiful light, whether natural or recreated.

Sams work has been recognised by respected awards and galleries including: The NPG, D&AD Awards, Lürzer's Archive, Creative Review, Its Nice That, Palm Studios

I was first drawn to photograph this community after hearing about a relative who was from Irish Traveller heritage but denounced her heritage and past when she married. Although I have never lived this life, I had a strong interest and wanted to learn more about the community.

My first port of call was Appleby horse fair, one of the largest and oldest meets in the Gypsy and Traveller calendar. Before I went to the fair, I had my first encounters with prejudice as multiple people advised against attending the fair. What I found when I was there was that I was welcomed by families with warm hearts, met people full of passion, and discovered a strong resilience towards a way of life that is becoming harder to maintain each day.

It was very clear that many people have misunderstood Travellers and Gypsies, and I was shocked by the open prejudice towards this community. I wanted to tell the real story of the people I met and counter the misrepresentative media portrayal.

Over two years, I've immersed myself in this world, travelling to horse fairs across the UK and Ireland, conducting interviews, carrying out research, meeting inspiring people and documenting my experiences through photography and film.

As mounting challenges threaten the Traveller and Gypsy communities, I believe it's time for a positive change in attitudes, and I hope this project contributes to that shift.

Gaayein Jiaxian Peng: Bow-knot

Photographer: Gaayein Jiaxian Peng@p.lgue

Curator: Wenjun Xie @gwendrawimme

Exhibition Open: 2-10pm, 28 Oct 2024

Artist Meet & Greet: 6-10pm

Bow-knot, @p.lgue explores the nuanced relationship between fragility and resilience, reflects a significant chapter in her creative journey since transitioning to independent photographer in 2023. Her works composed of soft, loose yet cohesive everyday objects, reflects her journey of self-exploration. Through her bow-themed creations, she has developed a unique “in-between” perspective. The bow serves as a metaphor, symbolizing emotional bonds and connections among women.

Dane Faurschou is an Australian photographer and creator of Gemini whose personal work focuses on different subcultures around the world. He is coming together in collaboration with WTOTUTFA to create unique explorations of countercultures, photography, and clothing. Gemini is a visual juxtaposition of countercultures, one socially acceptable, the other shunned by the majority of society but both driven by the same passion for unique imagery and intense situations.

Whether it standing 100s of meters above the cloud line or being covered in grease and dirt multiple stories under cities this book attempts to showcase the landscapes of two different lifestyles coming together in a nuanced exploration of contrasts. WTOTUTFA creates a world of objects that are inspired by the experience of psychedelics. The objects we arrange around us tell a story about who we are. Our beliefs, our habits, our culture, are reflected in the things we make. Incorporating psychedelics into the aesthetic of these objects creates a space for it. A justification of its existence. Psychedelics never went away. They have remained in subcultures. Now they are re-emerging.

What happens when psychedelics begin to integrate with everyday life?

Social media handles

@holidayfromwhere

Freddie Miller is a photographer based in South-East London. He focuses on subculture, community and ritual; photographing people and how they use style, objects and environment to construct meaning and identity.

Free The Stones! is a photo series and short film exploring contemporary free festival, new age traveller, and pagan culture and how Stonehenge is a focal point for these movements’ community and their spirit of resistance.

The film tells the story of Sid Hope, a South London raised free festival campaigner who has split his life between Vauxhall squats and Stonehenge solstices, where he aims to reinstate a people’s free festival. Sid will share his point of view on life, freedom, authority and why Stonehenge is so important him and others.

The photos and film were shot over the course of 2023, anchored around Stonehenge’s seasonal celebrations, as well as South London where Sid resides.

With special thanks to Peter Butterworth and Josh Homer for their work on the film, Rory Griffin from Orienteer Magazine, and Sid Hope and the kind people of Stonehenge.

Including photos originally shown in @orienteermapazine issue #9 and a short film that tells the story of Sid Hope, a veteran Stonehenge free festival activist:

Director: @freddiemillerphoto
DOP: @beterputterworth
Edit/ 2nd cam: @josh.hmr

With special thanks to:
@rory_griffs
@orienteermapazine
@allpurpose.studio
@timebasedarts
@klong_sound
@circledancerecs
& Sid Hope and the people of the Stonehenge Festival Campaign

Who The Fuck Is Henry Gorse?

By Henry Gorse and Editor James Ross, with Design by Alfie Allen & Max Marshall

Limited Edition of 500

Specifications

Size: 240 x 340mm

Pages: 390 pages

Weight: 2.141kg

Format: Softback

Printing: Three cover fluorescent process print, 320pp CMYK + 24pp fluorescent PMS colour replacement

Tracked shipping worldwide, calculated at checkout

£60.00

Press Release by Eugenie Shinkle

Who the Fuck is Henry Gorse? Who or what? Set against the cool minimalism of so much contemporary fashion photography, Gorse’s work feels like the spontaneous outpouring of a carnivalesque collective unconscious – exuberant, unrestrained, excessive.

Gorse’s work is a mirror held up to the theatre of the absurd that is life on planet earth in the first decades of the new millennium. It’s a headlong dive into the deluge of images that saturate contemporary consciousness. It’s joyful and irreverent, life-affirming and fatalistic at the same time – a massive party the night before doomsday. It embraces the restlessness of a world in constant transformation, ready to spin out of control at any moment. And what makes Gorse’s work so remarkable is his ability to channel this havoc into something relatable and even soulful …. to find new cultural symbols that capture the complexity of the now … to seek out grains of sanity amidst the madness, to find moments that begin in the randomness of everyday life and that end by lifting us up out of it… this is the soul and spirit of Henry Gorse’s work.

Seed Vol. 1, a new zine that’s spotlighting the work of fresh, bold, and dynamic photographers. 

Get your hands on the very first issue of Seed, sip on some drinks, and dive into conversations of the creative crowd, It’s going to be a great night.

Violet rays is a new zine born out of love transcending places - spaces - times. It is the physical manifestation of a two year radio project, and an expansion from the sound wave form into a physical object, settled amongst letters, colours and pages.

Inspired by a teary-eyed taste of courgette lasagna, the first zine edition commemorates tastes of delight and creative expansions beyond musical landscapes. Contributions from Mexico City to Beijing and Athens to Amsterdam showcase recipes and profound flavourful memories across the world.

Between 6-9pm, you can dive into the world of violet rays with an immersive, trauma-informed drawing corner workshop and bite-sized speeches on our relationship with the food world this Saturday.

The zine launch party is fundraising for abuse survivors and all proceeds will be donated to charity.

Originally from Athens, Geoglitch is a London-based radio host, dj, film photographer and a lover of graphic design, the sun and the Mediterranean sea. Geoglitch currently hosts violet rays on Voices Radio. Geoglitch dreams of blue and dances in purple.

https://linktr.ee/geoglitch/ https://www.voicesradio.co.uk/ Poster and graphic design: Jorge Jobim is painter, graphic design and photographer from Beijing. Jorge wakes in green and plays the sax in yellow. https://jorgejobim.com/

Social media handles

@geoglitch @jor.graphy

''Prism of OBOLON" is a collection of prints documenting Daria's hometown, Kyiv, and the area known as Obolon, where she lived until she was 12. The logo used in the book's title is from a beer company named after the "Obolon" district. This company's logo, with its distinct visual elements, has become a ubiquitous symbol for the community. It represents not just a beer brand but also the cultural identity of the area. The factory producing the drink is located just a short distance from Daria's school, to which every morning walk was accompanied by the smell of fresh yeast brewing.

These photographs document visual themes Daria noticed in the neighborhood in contrast with the rest of the city. Obolon has always been her reference point, and it continues to be the place from which she perceives and regards each new experience and environment that she finds herself in. "Prism of OBOLON" is a return to her roots, a document of change, and a reflection of her perception of these changes.

Daria Pyshna is a Ukrainian photographer based in London since the start of the war.

Social media handles

@daria_pyshna