CCTV cameras are a unique obsessive problem in the UK, also a new symbol of their culture. Recording thousands of hours of Brits’ lifes every day… always with a safety purpose. An example of voyeurism.
The UK is now the most surveyed country in the world. They have a fixation with privacy laws, freedom of media, and surveillance – images captured and kept on our camera phones, YouTube reality programs…. Much of Exposed focuses on surveillance, including works by both amateur and press photographers, or those famous closed circuit tv cameras. The issues raised are particularly relevant in the current climate, with topical debates raging around the rights and desires of individuals, terrorism, individuality… and the increasing availability and use of surveillance. Exposed confronts these issues and their implications head-on.
The exhibition offers a fascinating look at pictures made on the sly, without the explicit permission of the people depicted. With photographs from the late nineteenth century to present day, the pictures present a shocking, illuminating and witty perspective on iconic and taboo subjects.
More than 200 stills by celebrated artists and photographers including Brassaï’s erotic Secret Paris of the 1930s images; Weegee’s iconic photograph of Marilyn Monroe; and Nick Ut’s reportage image of children escaping napalm attacks in the Vietnam War.
