Author(s): Joy Gregory

PHOTOGRAPHY COLLECTIONS

Shining Lights is the first critical anthology of Black women photographers active in the UK during the 1980s and 1990s, providing a richly illustrated overview of a significant and overlooked chapter of British photographic history. Seen through the lens of Britain’s sociopolitical and cultural contexts, the publication tells a unique story from the dual perspectives of lived experience and historical investigation. Edited and researched by Joy Gregory, one of the period’s most influential photographic artists, alongside art historian Taous Dahmani, who contributes a keynote essay.

The pioneering and diverse work created by Black women practitioners in the UK over the course of these two decades marked an important juncture in both documentary and conceptual practices, including the experimental use of photomontage, self-portraiture, staged imagery, and photography in dialogue with other media. Shining Lights showcases the expertise and evolution of this work, illuminated by ephemera and archival material, new essays and roundtable conversations, foregrounding a variety of individual artistic developments as well as the communities fostered around them. Amongst the fifty-seven photographers included are Maxine Walker, Ingrid Pollard, Claudette Holmes, Roshini Kempadoo, Mohini Chandra, Carole Wright, Joy Gregory, Sutapa Biswas, Maud Sulter, Brenda Agard, Anita McKenzie, Mitra Tabrizian, Poulomi Desai, Virginia Nimarkoh, Jennie Baptiste, Nudrat Afza, Merle Van den Bosch, and Eileen Perrier.