I'll come clean straight away: I love Daniel Meadows. However, before the gossip starts, I need to let you know that this is not the silly schoolgirl blushing kind of love, but one that is based on the following irrefutable statements:
- He is a genuinely nice guy.
- He has enough energy and enthusiasm to power a small village, should the technology be designed to harness it...
- He can talk for hours about all things photographic without hesitation nor repetition and remain interesting...
- He is a damned fine photographer – even though he no longer makes work.
- He doesn't know how good he is.
So, taking all of this into consideration, I am DELIGHTED that Daniel Meadows is actually getting the attention he deserves. With a major exhibition in Bradford, a new book by Val Williams and serious coverage in the BJP (he's on the bill with Joachim Schmid on November 18th at BJP's VISION '11 in London), a new generation can see and enjoy the work he made in the 1970s. Strong black and white portraits from Greame Street (1972) and the Free Photographic Omnibus ('73 - '74) show that Daniel was ahead of his time. Subjects look straight into the camera and then into the viewer's eyes; we connect with the individuals across the 40 years' distance and feel the privileged and trusting relationship that existed between the strangers and the photographer all of those years ago. For this is work made with an open mind and an open heart; there is no cynicism nor exploitation here.
Meadows paid for the Greame Street studio and all of the prints using his university grant money (those were the days!) and the Photobus project was made possible because of his tireless fundraising. No-one ever paid Meadows for their portrait and to see the fruits of those non-capitalist exchanges celebrated on gallery wall and in print after all of these years is a marvellous thing.
And this is why I love Daniel: his photography really is a gift.
The 'Archive Wall', National Media Museum, Bradford.
Opening night at The National Media Museum, Bradford.
© Daniel Meadows
© Daniel Meadows
Waiting to get my copy signed!
Check out Daniel's website:
The exhibition:
The book:
Daniel, due to speak at BJP's Vision '11:
Val Williams and The Archive:
Pete James and Birmingham City Library: Collecting Meadows
Great stuff, Denise - and the book is fascinating as well, with a cultural history of British photography in the 70s that is not that different in some ways from now (and in other ways is completely different of course).
ReplyDeleteThanks, Colin. The book is an excellent read and I will no doubt be dipping in and out of it for years to come. I was lucky enough to be one of Daniel's interns for a while and had the privilege of helping to catalogue his archive: it was amazing to read notes, letters, bills etc and I had hoped that there would be more of this in the book... The pieces of paper that other people might have deemed 'scraps' and not worth keeping offer a real insight into his energy, determination, enthusiasm and single-mindedness as a young photographer with a 'dream'. I will write at least one more entry on the current exhibition and book: there is so much to say! Thanks again for the comment: it's great to know that someone has read the entries!
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