In the 1980s and early 90s, Ingrid Pollard photographed the activities and affinities of the Black feminist movement across London night clubs, workshops, public demonstrations, and bookfairs.
In this dialogue, writers Laura Guy and Mason Leaver-Yap discuss photographs from this period, exploring how Pollard's images track collective movements between the stage and the street.
More than simply evidencing the existence of such activities, Pollard's photographs create spaces within which differences of perception can be named and shared.
From here, a proposal about the role of documentary in the making of histories of collectivised practices of art and politics begins to unfurl.
This event is part of a series of online expert talks and Q&A sessions, where a range of writers, scholars, artists and curators present on Pollard's practice through a different subject lens each week.
The series is part of a wider project across Devon focused on Pollard produced by talking on corners and supported using public funding from Arts Council England. As part of the wider programme, Pollard was commissioned to make a series of new work, Ingrid Pollard: Three Drops of Blood, exhibited at Thelma Hulbert Gallery, Honiton, which illustrates the intimacy, care, nuance and technical skill of Pollard’s extensive practice as one of Britain’s leading contemporary artists. (See online version of the exhibition here.)
Cost: Free.
Advance booking is essential - click on the Register button on this page to book your ticket. You will be sent a link nearer the date of the event to enable you to join.
Accessibility Statement: Live captioning via Teams will be available during this event.
About the speakers
Mason Leaver Yap works with artists to produce texts, exhibitions, and events. He has recently been working with Renée Green and Free Agent Media, Oreet Ashery, Stefanie Heinze, Jamie Crewe, Beatrice Gibson, Laura Guy, Sunil Gupta and the Estate of Tessa Boffin, Onyeka Igwe, Winnie Herbstein, Ima-Abasi Okon, Lin+Lam, Uri Aran, Andrea Büttner, Iman Issa, Jimmy Robert, and Em Hedditch. He is based in Glasgow and Berlin.
Laura Guy is a writer and curator based in Glasgow where she coordinates PhD research for the School of Fine Art at Glasgow School of Art. Her work on feminist and queer visual culture has been published widely. She is editor of Phyllis Christopher’s first monograph Dark Room: San Francisco Sex and Protest, 1988-2003 (Book Works, 2022) and co-editor with Glyn Davis of Queer Print in Europe (Forthcoming from Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2022).
About the Ingrid Pollard Speaker Series
The Ingrid Pollard Speaker Series is generously supported by the Paul Mellon Centre, Arts and Culture University of Exeter, the Association for Art History and the University of Exeter Geography department. It is part of a wider project across Devon focused on Pollard produced by talking on corners and supported using public funding from Arts Council England.
Project partners are Thelma Hulbert Gallery, the Devon and Exeter Institution, Libraries Unlimited, Arts and Culture University of Exeter and Natural England. They have developed an incredibly varied associated programme of events and activities including an exhibition of new work commissioned by talking on corners, at Thelma Hulbert Gallery, Ingrid Pollard: Three Drops of Blood, and a supporting display at the Devon and Exeter Institution (6 Aug - 29 Oct 2022). View the full project programme here.