Salon des Refusés is French for ‘exhibition of rejects’ and has been a method of showing work since the 1830s. This particular Salon des Refusés showcases the works rejected by the judging panel for The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2013 and takes the form of magazine, launch and projection across four British venues on the same night.
The White Cloth Gallery hosted its share of Portrait Salon 13 in the bar and gallery; guests walked through a room of invited stallholders where they could purchase the magazine newspaper hybrid and move through to see the photographs projected onto a clean white gallery wall among their current exhibition of works by Tom Stoddart. The informality and joviality of the evening made it easy for people to mingle, discuss the work at their leisure and take a seat and browse the magazine.
The judges were Harry Hardie, founder of Here Press and director of cultural projects for Panos Pictures; freelance architectural photographer, curator and writer Jim Stephenson; and documentary and portrait photographer and founding member of A Fine Beginning Abbie Tayler-Smith. The trio was tasked with choosing from more than 2,000 images from more than 700 photographers to create a slick publication designed by Stanley James of 41 well juxtaposed images with a foreword by Christiane Monarchi. A short Q&A with judge Jim Stephenson revealed his approach to selecting the 41; the politics of making these selections, what to omit and what counts as a portrait but, most importantly, he explains that the photographs selected do not present “a selection of unanimous decisions”. The images shown in the magazine and projected on to the wall are, in his words, “an exploration [of sorts] of what portrait can be, from the studio to the rolling hills of some far foreign land.”
A new aspect of Portrait Salon 13 is the introduction of a live link up. At 8pm on Tuesday the four galleries: Four Corners in London, Stills Gallery in Edinburgh, Hotel Pelirocco in Brighton and our own é on Aire Street, ceased projection for a few minutes to allow this to happen. It was initially unclear what this was supposed to bring to the launch as a whole; perhaps in a more intimate surrounding and with more focus on it’s importance there would have been a greater chance of it reaching its full potential. However, the night was certainly no poorer for it. Portrait Salon describe their work as “as much about debating the competition process as it is about showcasing good portraiture”. As a mission statement encompasses everything Monday night achieved and set out to achieve. The eclectic mix of people in attendance, some of whom had work entered into both the Taylor Wessing and the Portrait Salon, were happy to discuss their experience and the outcomes of their participation, strengthening the waves Portrait Salon is starting to make in the world of photographic prizes.
Emma Bakel