Jem Southam is one of the most respected British photographers of the last twenty-five years. Inspired partly by the colour work of William Eggleston, Southam began in the 1970s to document the British countryside particularly the South West where he lives and works.
Characteristically he returns to the same place again and again to patiently and meticulously trace changes over seasons and even years. Often these histories are both natural and sociological, charting not just nature but the presence of man. As Southam has explained:
My overall artistic intentions are to make work that explores how our history, our memory, and our systems of knowledge combine to influence our responses to the places we inhabit, visit, create, and dream of.Combining natural observation with influences from literature, science and history, Southam's work oscillates between the epic and the everyday: I eschew grandeur for the sake of it preferring to revel in a subtler scale and history. But there's still an epic story to be told which exists wherever humans have made their homes.'
Southam uses a large format camera to produce 8 x 10 inch negatives. When enlarged to create c-type prints, the images reveal a mesmerizing level of detail. Southam also creates contact prints from his negatives which display an incredible intensity in both colour and contrast.
Jem Southam has been the subject of solo shows at numerous institutions including Tate St. Ives (2004), and The Victoria and Albert Museum (2006) and is included in many important collections including Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Museum Folkswang, Dusseldorf, and the Yale Centre for British Art, New Haven.
Education:
1986
Exeter School of Art/ University of Plymouth
Falmouth School of Art
Photographer/Designer Arnolfini, Bristol
Photography at the London College of Printing
Selected Solo Exhibitions:
2009
Clouds Descending, Tullie House Museum, Carlisle; The Lowry Museum, Salford, UK
2008
The Rockfalls of Normandy, Pole Image, Rouen, France; Robert Mann Gallery, New York
2006
Upton Pyne, Yale Centre for British Art, USA; Davis Museum and Cultural Centre, Wellesley College, USA
Upton Pyne, Johnson Museum, Cornell, USA
The Path to a Picture, V&A Museum, London
2004
Upton Pyne, Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter
The St. Austell China Clay Pits, Tate St Ives; Robert Mann Gallery.
2002
Rockfalls, Rivermouths and Ponds, Arles Rencontres, France
2000
Rockfalls, Rivermouths and Ponds, Towner Museum and Art Gallery
1996
The Raft of Carrots, Australian Centre for Photography
Selected Group Exhibitions:
2010
PhotoEspana - Madrid, June
Facts of Life. Photography in Britain 1974 - 1997 as part of Photomonth, Krakow,
2005/8
The Coast of Cumbria - The Lowry, Salford
2005/6
The Rockfalls of Normandy - Pole Image, Normandy, France
2006
The Sunderland Coast - The University of Sunderland
2005
Shiermonnikoog - Ministry of Agriculture, Holland
2004/6
'Crear', Argyll, Artist in Residence
2004
The St Austell China Clay Pits - Tate St Ives
2002/3
The Polder Pictures - Atelier HSL, Holland, Photographic Commission
Selected Publications:
2008
Clouds Descending, Lowry Museum, Salford
2006
The Painter's Pool, Jem Southam and Chris Cook, Nazraeli Press
2005
Landscape Stories, Jem Southam essays by Andy Grundberg and Gerry Badger, Princeton Architectural Press/Blindspot
2000
Rockfalls, Rivermouths and Ponds - The Shape of Time , Jem Southam with texts by David Chandler, Ian Jeffrey, Jeremy Millar Towner Art Gallery/Photoworks
1992
The Raft of Carrots, Jem Southam with text by David Chandler, The Photographers' Gallery, London
1989
The Red River, Jem Southam with texts by D M Thomas (poem) and Frank Turk (essay), Cornerhouse Publications, Manchester
1982
The Floating Harbour, a Landscape History of Bristol City Docks, Jem Southam with text by John Lord, Redcliff Press
Selected Awards:
2001
Arts Council of England
2002
Short-listed for Citibank Photography Prize - The Photographers' Gallery, London
1994
Charles Pratt Memorial Prize - Creative Centre for Photography/Arizona
1992
Leopold Godowsky III Colour Award, Boston Centre for Photography
Selected Collections:
V&A Museum
Government Art Collection, UK
Arts Council Collection
Towner, Eastbourne
Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Museum Folkswang, Dusseldorf
Yale Centre for British Art, New Haven
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Davis Museum, Wellesley
Johnson Museum, Cornell