John Kippin: Based on a True Story

29 Jun-23 Sep 2018

Overview

Based on a True Story surveys forty years of making art in public by John Kippin, a central figure in the emergence of photography as an independent art form in the UK from the 1970s and 1980s through to the present day. The exhibition, and the 344pp publication that accompany it, bringing together contributions from nine leading scholars and curators in the field, including the Director of The Photographers‘ Gallery, Brett Rogers. Each of the nine contributors has selected works from Kippin’s forty-year archive to provide new insights into his way of seeing the world through a lens. Kippin’s photographic artwork has contributed to debates about the nature of post-industrial landscapes, national and regional identity, forgotten spaces, and the power of the state and commerce to reshape the world. Since the 1980s, Kippin has created billboards for public spaces that intervene in the social realm directly – countering the messages of advertising with counter-cultural propositions, and questions.