Turner Contemporary is working on a major new exhibition on the seaside – and has launched a call for images depicting the British coast and how members of the public interact with it.
The exhibition will launch in Margate in summer 2019 before going on tour around the UK, and is being curated by Val Williams and Karen Shepherdson – director of the photography and the Archive Research Centre (PARC) at the London College of Communication, and director of the South East Archive of Seaside Photography respectively. They want to produce a collection which explores “how the medium of photography has both shaped and exposed the multiple layers of the seaside resort”, they say.
Williams and Shepherdson are keen to shed light on all aspects of the seaside experience, from holiday homes to arcades, and from beachfronts to funfairs, and how fashion, migration, nightlife and even illicit or sexual activities shape coastal communities. They are also keen to include a broad chronological sweep of work, stating that the exhibition will look at “the ways in which photography’s early technologies were performed extensively at the seaside, creating an atmosphere of magic and wonder, providing a context for later work”.
As such archive images are welcome as well as more contemporary shots, and photographs by amateurs as well as professionals. In fact, Williams and Shepherdson recognise that photography “is not always a continuous career”, and hope to unearth lesser-known aspects of life by the sea by including previously unpublished and unseen work.
Turner Contemporary is accepting submissions until 15th September. To have work considered for the exhibition, sending images to resort@turnercontemporary.org. For full guidelines and information, please visit the gallery website.
