Vox Populi London
2012
264 individually framed colour photographs (13 x 18 cm)
dimensions: 7.5 x 2.3 m
Vox Populi London is a group portrait of a city. Fiona Tan invited a broad range of Londoners to loan her their personal photo albums. She then spent time looking at, selecting and scanning photographs for inclusion in this wall-based installation and in the accompanying artist’s book.
Tan works instinctively, almost as an anthropologist, finding commonalities across the albums as well as incongruities. The births, marriages and family gatherings that are celebrated in these images can be found in albums in many parts of the world. Yet many of the settings here – school halls, famous landmarks and playing fields – are identifiably London. These 265 photographs span five decades and chart the changing nature of film-based photography prior to a pivotal point in photographic history, the full dawn of the digital era.
The resulting work presents Londoners from the particular perspective of the artist, and looks at how we have chosen to represent ourselves, family and friends in whichever place we call home.
Credits
Vox Populi, London was commissioned by The Photographers’ Gallery and is the fifth installment, and likely the last, of Tan’s Vox Populi series. Begun in 2004 in Norway, the series fluctuates between cities and countries, and has gone on to include Switzerland, Tokyo, and Sydney.
Vox Populi, London is sponsored by Bloomberg.
The accompanying artist's book – including a text by Brian Dillon – has been co-published by The Photographers' Gallery and Book Works and is available at The Photographers Gallery and via Book Works.