In 2016 at Photomonth London we launched GIRL TOWN*, an exhibition that aimed to celebrate the culture of the female in the 21st Century. We knew it would be good, but we didn't realise just how good! Exhibiting around 200 images from around the world, GIRL TOWN brought together a selection of photography that resonated with it's audience. The Whitechapel Gallery promoted it as one of their Top 5 to see, people travelled from near and far to see it, the exhibition was hugely popular and very well received by thousands of viewers, and a curator from Israel approached us about taking the show on the road.
At the private view we announced that we'd been invited to go to Tel Aviv. Everyone was excited. Throughout Photomonth we ran a series of talks, discussions and screenings and included speakers from The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Photovoice and the Director of Photomonth East London. We got to work on making Tel Aviv happen, behind the scenes, but it took time and we didn't want to say anything until we could make it a reality.
We are more than happy to announce that GIRL TOWN will be travelling to Tel Aviv this Autumn to be exhibited for one month (from 14 Oct – 14 Nov 2017) at Alfred Gallery, right in the heart of the city. Alfred Gallery is a popular space, run by an artist’s collective, and well respected in the city.**
We’re really excited that the exhibition has the potential to travel and to make a positive difference. Aside from getting the GIRL TOWN message out there, we're also pleased to have the chance to not only promote the participating photographers to a global audience, but also to promote Shutter Hub and our members – to create a relationship of exchanging work with an international city.
As you probably already know, a lot of the work Shutter Hub does is heavily subsidised, and while we'd rather not ask, in this situation we are asking for the support of the photography community, in order to make this exchange work and work well.
We’ve set up a funding page on Indiegogo (we are also going to make a donation to the Rise Together Fund through BackHer). We'd love you to have a look and get involved, we'd appreciate any donation you can make towards taking this exhibition to Israel, and we'd be grateful if you could share the page as widely as possible to give this exhibition and exchange the best chance.
Read more and support the project here.
This is about opening up opportunities for everyone. If you were in the London exhibition (congratulations!) we know this will mean a lot to you, we want to help share your work, and if you can tell your friends, family and followers how they can get involved and support you, that would be wonderful.
This is not just an opportunity for exhbitors, this an opportunity for the whole community to get involved – as photographers you have a chance to shape this exchange and help open up future opportunities for yourselves too. If you have project ideas and thoughts for us to propose, please do tell us. We've already had interest from national and international press (and a magazine feature offered) but if you can help spread this news wide and far, please do.
Please get in touch, support, share, and let’s make GIRL TOWN the sequel even better than the first one!
Got a suggestion or idea for GIRL TOWN in Tel Aviv? Drop us an email to info@shutterhub.org.uk
*GIRL TOWN came together through an open call by Shutter Hub and the Old Girls Club, which invited participants to enter up to 5 images via Instagram using the hashtag #girltownPM and the images were captured and printed directly from Instagram, with support from Metro Imaging. Using social media in this way created opportunities for a wide range of photographers with varied practices to get involved (at no cost to them at all) and resulted in a diverse and challenging display.
** Due to unforeseen circumstances the GIRL TOWN Tel Aviv exhibition has had to be postponed – read the update here.
Image © Karen Harvey
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