UNTETHERED: Siân Davey & Joseph Szabo
Past exhibition
Works
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Joseph Szabo, Priscilla, 1969
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Siân Davey, After the Swim Group portrait (ii)
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Siân Davey, Girls swimming at dusk
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Joseph Szabo, Bubble Gum Girl, 1984
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Joseph Szabo, Anthony & Terry, 1977
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Siân Davey, Torquay 5am
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Joseph Szabo, Anthony & Johanna
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Siân Davey, Martha 16 years old - India
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Siân Davey, Prom
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Joseph Szabo, Hurt, 1972
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Joseph Szabo, Tom on his car, 1977
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Siân Davey, Mid-Summer Dartington Hall Estate
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Siân Davey, Gathered by the River - 7pm
Overview
Michael Hoppen Gallery is delighted to present two photographic series, made nearly fifty years apart, that explore the vulnerability, beauty and ambivalence of adolescence.
Joe Szabo began his Teenage series when he was appointed as an art teacher at Malverne High School, Long Island in the early 1970s. He started photographing his pupils as a means of engaging with them and building mutual respect. The approach proved to be very effective and Szabo’s students became his on-going subjects for the next 25 years, as he photographed them at school, at home and at play. The resulting images are a remarkable evocation of the seventies and eighties and yet there is also something timeless and compelling about Szabo’s portrayal of the universal teenager.
Cornell Capa describes how “Szabo’s camera is sharp, incisive, and young, matching his subjects. One can use many adjectives: revealing, tender, raucous, sexy, showy... in Szabo’s hands, the camera is magically there, the light is always available, the moment is perceived, seen, and caught.”
In contrast, Martha is an on-going collaboration between British photographer Siân Davey and her step-daughter Martha which explores their evolving relationship as well as the lives of Martha and her close friends as they journey through their later teenage years in rural Devon. The level of trust between Davey and all her subjects is reflected in the intimacy and honesty of the photographs, which range from idyllic pastoral scenes reminiscent of Cezanne’s Bathers to an interior shot of a hungry moment eating pizza in a late night kebab shop.
Davey, who is also a psychotherapist, describes her approach to the project: ‘Firstly, as a mother I’m interested in the relational aspects of adolescence. I’m also fascinated with this developmental stage when a child starts to individuate and separate from their parents. There is this particular point in time when you have a child and adult in the same body, which is why it’s such a complex and potentially confusing time. During this period of transition, there is a very short and specific ‘window’ when a person can behave in a way, which is free of the weight of societal expectations and norms. Before too long the window closes and we can forget how it felt to be ‘untethered’.’
Press
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The beautiful mundanity of family life
Sarah Eberspacher, THE WEEK, May 23, 2017 -
The next generation of photographers you need to watch out for in 2017
HUCK, May 20, 2017 -
Announcement: The Graduate Photographers Award 2017 Winners
Magnum Photos website, May 20, 2017 -
Siân Davey: The Graduate Photographers Award 2017
British journal Photography, May 20, 2017 -
The touching adolescents of Siân Davey & Joseph Szabo
L'Oeil de la Photographie, May 3, 2017 -
Two photographers capture teenage life fifty years apart at Michael Hoppen Gallery
JESSIE THOMPSON, Evening Standard, April 20, 2017 -
Untethered: Teenagers then and now
BBC World service, April 15, 2017 -
Dazed and confused: Joseph Szabo's portraits of adolescence – in pictures
The Guardian, April 14, 2017 -
In pictures: the W* photography desk’s daily digest of visual inspiration
James Warren, Wallpaper* Magazine, April 7, 2017 -
UNTETHERED: This Photo Exhibition Reveals how Youth Hasn’t Changed In 50 Years
Alexander Lendrum, UNRATED, April 7, 2017 -
Untethered: Two photographic series, made fifty years apart, that explore adolescence
Katy Cowan, Creative Boom, April 7, 2017 -
JOSEPH SZABO AND SIÂN DAVEY: RESTLESS DESIRE AND THE BLOSSOMING SEXUALITY OF ADOLESCENCE
ismorbo, April 7, 2017 -
Exhibition: Untethered, Joseph Szabo & Siân Davey
DPN, April 6, 2017 -
Photos of teens taken 50 years apart show nothing changes
Niall Flynn, DAZED magazine, April 5, 2017 -
Untethered: Joseph Szabo and Siân Davey present 50 years of being young
Alex Wheeler, International Business Times, March 31, 2017 -
Joseph Szabo: the teacher who photographed a bygone era of American youth
Adam White , Sunday Telegraph, March 26, 2017
News
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SIÂN DAVEY
Wins The Graduate Photographers Award 2017 20 May, 2017Siân Davey wins The graduate photographers prize. Enquire about her work today...Read more -
SIÂN DAVEY
Shortlisted for The Kraszna-Krausz Foundation 2017 Book Award May 18, 2017Siân Davey has been shortlisted for the Kraszna-Krausz photo book awardRead more