Simon Wheatley – Silverlink

Location

Leica Gallery
66 Duke Street
London
W1K 6JD

Description

This exhibition has now closed

This exhibition runs from Friday 17th May 2024 to Sunday 21st July 2024.

Simon Wheatley is a London-based photographer who has become increasingly renowned for his raw and intimate photographic portrayal of the city and its communities. His first book 'Don't Call Me Urban! The Time of Grime' is recognised as one of the most influential UK photobooks of recent times.

Between 1998 to 2010 he photographed the overland train service he first encountered as The North London Line, which then became Silverlink after its privatisation. After extensive global travel, Wheatley continued to satisfy his wanderlust by instead travelling locally, exploring a part of the city he didn't particularly know that well - moving up and down this line that ran across London's northern inner-suburbs. The series, which Wheatley initially envisaged as a documentation of the social polarisation of neighbourhoods continued until the Kodachrome film (which he chose having read that Bruce Davidson also used this film for his series 'Subway') was discontinued. Not only was this a poignant full-stop in terms of photographic craft but also in wrapping up an empty testimony to the Blair years after New Labour's failure to fulfil their promise to repeal The Railways Act of 1993.

As well as highlighting the diverse nature of a capital city, this work is also a love letter to London and the people Wheatley met as he rode north to south, east to west. It's a tender testament of how people in expansively different situations exist in proximity - this doesn't only create a divide but a closeness. Some of the first trips he took were to the eastern terminus at North Woolwich - a derelict industrial area near the river Thames. Here he met a man called Barry who had once owned an antiques business in the Portobello Road before losing his shop when new landlords priced him out of his property, as prices soared in the 1980s. His despair had turned him into an alcoholic when Wheatley found him on a bench with strong beverages and exotic foods, reflecting the life he had once known.

"A big part of my photographic work in London revolves around the theme of gentrification, so Barry was perhaps the most poignant encounter,” says Wheatley.

Ian has Visited - review here.

Prices

Free

Contact and Booking Details

More information at this website.

Upcoming Dates

This exhibition runs from Friday 17th May 2024 to Sunday 21st July 2024.

Forthcoming dates:

Disclaimer

The information and prices in this listing are presumed to be correct at the time of publishing, but please always check with the venue before making a special trip.

All images are supplied by the exhibition organiser.

Leica Gallery
66 Duke Street
London
W1K 6JD

This exhibition runs from Friday 17th May 2024 to Sunday 21st July 2024.

This event runs over several days/weeks. Dates include:

May 2024

June 2024

July 2024