Another Kind of Life: Photography on the Margins
Various Artists
28 FEBRUARY - 27 MAY 2018
The Barbican Centre
£11 with National Art Pass / £13.50 Standard
Touching on themes of gender and sexuality, countercultures, subcultures and minorities of all kinds, The Barbican's major spring exhibition could not be more relevant. Despite major change over the years, it is easy to forget those individuals who still feel ostracised and excluded from society. Societal 'norms' have been expanded, aiming to eliminate discrimination and be more inclusive, but the gap still largely remains. Another Kind of Life explores those who still feel a long way from acceptance, displaying the stories of lives which remain on the edge; exuding a vulnerability that many of us will simply never understand.
Each photographer focuses in on a different sub-group in society, no two works are the same which provides the exhibition with a colourful and vibrant variety. The photographer's have spent an extended amount of time with their subjects, whether it is Danny Lyon biking around with 'The Outlaws' or Paz Errázuriz living with her subjects in a brothel during the military regime in Chile. Not only are the works produced beautifully aesthetic, they also form a deeper political message, in an attempt to alter our rigid yet fragmented social landscape.
Downstairs the exhibition explores various subcultures, usually within the underground of large metropolises. For example, the 'Teddy Boys' documented by Chris Steele-Perkins or 'New York Gangsters' documented by Bruce Davidson. The downstairs galleries hold a dark edginess and give a sense of unpredictability to the subject's lives: life for them is forever in the present, a game of survival and not future gain. Upstairs builds on the darkness exhibited downstairs: exploring the lives of transgender strip dancers negatively impacted due to the destruction of the clubs they work at, and how Mona Ahmad has been living as the opposite sex since her childhood castration.
One work which has remained with me since is that of Jim Goldberg, San Francisco and Los Angeles based Photographer who's series 'Raised by Wolves' has the power to both engage and repulse you. It is a collection of work which simultaneously allows you to delve deep into the subjects lives, whilst also reminding you how brutally removed you are from their very specific kind of suffering. The characters of Tweeky Dave and Echo are instantly likeable: two young teens who have run away from home and are subsequently facing homelessness. From Echo's charming good looks to Jimmy's overwhelming sense of character, you are instantly assimilated with them, rooting for them, and praying for their survival.
In the confines of the single room the works are given, you feel as if you have been on a journey with Goldberg and his subjects. You learn intimate details about the characters and see not only photographs of their lives, but multimedia such as drawings and video installations. Once you have become relatively attached for the pair, you learn some terrible news; fairly predictable that Goldberg would not allow there to be a happy ending. The result of this abrupt and harrowing end makes the work all the more memorable. Goldberg's images aren't the most beautiful or skilful, but he achieves a storytelling masterpiece like no other photographer in the exhibition, and for this reason alone he is an unquestionable winner.
Another Kind of Life is a relevant and harrowing exhibition which starts soft and builds you up as you continue. It displays images of those who are still separated from society and shows them as undoubtedly human, helping us empathise. The result of this is the reminder that despite advances in equality and acceptance, many people are still dangerously ostracised from society.
OVERALL RATING: *****
https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2018/event/another-kind-of-life-photography-on-the-margins
