Landmark: the Fields of Photography

14 March – 28 April 2013
Daily 10.00-18.00 (Last admission 17.30)
East Wing Galleries, East Wing. Terrace Rooms & Courtyard Rooms, South Wing
Free admission

This novel exhibition presented by the Positive View Foundation will be the first of its kind anywhere to show both the harsh, even brutal realities of the changing environment, as well as its enduring and stunning beauty, is a wide-ranging and ground-breaking exhibition featuring more than 70 of the world’s most highly regarded photographers from North and South America, Africa, Europe and Asia, with many of them showcasing previously unseen and recently completed works.  

Focusing on our rapidly changing planet the exhibition will feature more than 130 original works of art taken by enterprising photographers employing technology ranging from 19th Century plate-camera techniques to the use of planes, drones, robots and even satellites to capture vivid images of earth’s varied terrain – and even distant planets.  Many of the major names in photography will be represented: Mitch Epstein, Nadav Kander, Robert Adams, Simon Norfolk, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Lee Friedlander, Simon Roberts, Toshio Shibata, Robert Polidori and many others contributing spectacular imagery.  Also featured will be striking images by a younger generation of photographers: Pieter Hugo, Susan Evans, Ivar Kvaal, Penelope Umbrico, Mathieu Bernard-Reymond, and others.

William A. Ewing, the exhibition's curator explains: “Landscape has been and remains one of the most powerful forms of photography, and is even more so in a world which is changing so fast we can hardly keep up. Rising seas, melting glaciers, the ozone hole, desertification, coastal cities under threat - we add to the list everyday.  And photographers everywhere are grappling with these problems, creating brilliant pictures which put a vivid face on otherwise abstract issues. These images range from the sublime to the ridiculous; photographers are on the front lines - our eyes and ears.  But they also remind us to slow down and appreciate the beauty of the world – often where we least expect it".

Twitter Q&A with photographer Simon Roberts who is included in Landmark: The Fields of Photography on Tuesday 16 April at 11:00. Follow Somerset House on Twitter and ask questions by including #LandmarkExhibition in your tweets.

Our education pack for Landmark: the Fields of Photography is a downloadable resource for both teachers and students, that provides contextual information on the exhibition and highlights suitable lines of enquiry.
Download the pack

RELATED EVENTS:

Landmark Talk, Simon Norfolk: Sky Fallen
Saturday 6 April 14.00 & 15.00
Free, sign up half an hour before each talk at the Information Desk in the Seamen's Hall
Join renowned photographer Simon Norfolk as he takes you on a journey through his book ‘Sky Fallen’ currently exhibited in our photographic exhibition ‘Landmark: the Fields of Photography’.  Photographed at Hankley Common, Surrey, and showing spectacular images of the Skyfall Lodge sequence from Skyfall, the most successful James Bond film to date, it is part of a unique edition of only 14.  Designed by Simon Norfolk and Rob Hadrill, this exceptional large scale book and collection of uniquely produced photographs was letterpress printed and hand bound in London.
Limited availability, please sign up at the Information Desk situated in The Seamen's Hall half an hour before the talk is due to start.

Landmark Spotlight Tours
Thursdays during exhibition from 21 March,13.15 - 13.45, Free
Join us for spotlight tours that examine some of the ideas and stories that have shaped the Landmark: Fields of Photography exhibition and its engagement with our changing environment.
Limited spaces on the tours are bookable at the entrance to the exhibition in the East Wing Galleries at 12:45 on the day. 

Exhibitions on Film: Stalker
Saturday 13 April 14.00-16.40
Screening Room £8
Andrei Tarkovsky’s adaptation of Boris and Arkady Strugatsky’s sci-fi novel Roadside Picnic follows the journey of two men who are led by the mysterious Stalker into the forbidden ‘Zone,’ a wasteland containing a room which can grant the wishes of whoever enters. 
BOOK TICKETS NOW