The Picture Library

25 Jun-26 Sep 2021

Overview

The Picture Library, organised in collaboration with The Guardian Foundation, delves into the legendary Guardian picture library, to explore photojournalism across the 20th Century and the various ways in which a liberal press employs images to elaborate themes such as feminism, nationalism, post-colonialism, racism, industrial relations, immigration, class and the climate crisis. Featuring over 300 images, the exhibition mirrors the non-hierarchical nature of the library itself. Images are filed according to ‘subject’ and ‘personality’; individual photographers are accorded no particular status and images once deemed significant or newsworthy alongside the obscure and forgotten. It also offers unique insights into the daily workings of a traditional picture editor, and features rarely seen working press prints, contact sheets, editing notes and other newspaper ephemera.