In those dim and distant days of a decade ago, Black photographic practice was by and large defined by its attachment to the act and the art of social documentation. Race-based reportage was the unquestioned and willingly accepted order of the day. The aim of this exhibition is not to showcase or indicate any continued notion of an essential 'Black' photography. Joy Gregory has contributed two bodies of work to this exhibition, one being a collaboration with one of London's most interesting and provocative artists, Yinka Shonibare. The other series, Objects of Beauty, consists of a number of exquisitely photographed items that countless numbers of women have relied on to enhance their appearance.
Stiletto shoes occupy one photograph, a corset is the subject of another.
Elsewhere in the series we see sensitive studies of other objects such as stockings and hair clips. But these photographs are not simply presented to us as crass or fickle consumer items that serve to abusively constrain women. Neither are they presented as essential products that every woman simply must have, or at one point ought to have had. As unswervingly focused as the work is, Objects of Beauty defies obvious, easy, or indeed, comfortable readings. But there can be no doubt in the mind of the viewer that each of these photographic frames carries with it a critical narrative.