Photography & the Archive Research Centre (PARC) at the London College of Communication invites you to the opening of The Other Observers: Women’s Photography in Britain – materials from the Val Williams Archive. 

Curated by PARC Graduate Associates Ana Ascobar and Jacqui Taylor as part of the Moose on the Loose outreach programme.

Women in Photography the Other Observers was commissioned in 1984 by the National Museum of Photography. Val Williams researched into the history of women in photography, resulting in a book, a TV series by Channel 4 and an exhibition that successfully toured Britain. Curated and written by Val Williams this was the first book of its kind that gave a historical account of women in photography in Britain in the 1900’s

Throughout her research she collated and brought together many lesser known photographers alongside more well known names, resulting in a celebration of women in the field of photography, including Christina Broom, Dorothy Wilding, Vanessa Bell and Julia Margaret Cameron.

As part of Val Williams’ extensive archive and revisited here for the first time since 1986, this particular series of work engages us with contemporary questions such as women’s role in photography in the 1900’s in relation to nowadays, the legacy of this work, and poses the relevant question ‘what can we learn from these archives today?’

Please join us for our Opening Party on:
Thursday 8th June 4pm-6pm

PARCspace, Room W224, LCC
Elephant & Castle
London, SE1 6SB