RPS Awards Talks...Sian Bonnell HonFRPS with Martin Barnes

In this on-going series of talks, hear leading individuals discuss how they use photography as artists, scientists, educators, publishers and curators. All our speakers are recent RPS Award recipients who have been recognised for their contribution to the medium. They are discussing their work with those who know them well.

All talks and links to recordings (where available) in the series can be seen here: https://rps.org/awardstalks

Sian Bonnell HonFRPS is in conversation with Martin Barnes, both are  RPS Award recipients.

Sian Bonnell is a UK based artist, living and working in West Yorkshire. Her work is concerned with concepts surrounding photography and its relations with objects, environment and performance. Her work has been exhibited and published widely and is held in many public and corporate collections notably, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, the Ransom Center, Texas and the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris. 

Martin Barnes is Senior Curator of Photography at the V&A. Since 1997 he has worked with the V&A’s National Collection of the Art of Photography, building and researching the collection and devising exhibitions. He was the Lead Curator for Phase 1 of the V&A’s new Photography Centre which opened in autumn 2018.

He has published extensively on historical and contemporary photographic subjects and curated numerous UK and international touring exhibitions including: Twilight: Photography in the Magic Hour (2006); Something That I’ll Never Really See: Contemporary Photography from the V&A (2008-10); Shadow Catchers: Camera-less Photography (2010); Island Stories: Fifty Years of Photography in Britain (2012-13); Beneath the Surface, the inaugural exhibition for Photo London, Somerset House (2015); Richard Learoyd: Dark Mirror (2015-16); Paul Strand: Photography and Film for the 20th Century (2016); and the British Pavilion at Dubai Photo (2016). He is currently working on the book and exhibition Maurice Broomfield: Industrial Sublime.

Martin has acted as academic advisor and lecturer for the Royal College of Art, the University of Westminster, the University of the Arts London, the University of Newcastle, and Sotheby’s Institute, and as judge for the Prix Pictet, the Deutsche Börse Prize and the Kraszna-Krausz Book Awards. Martin was given the Society’s J Dudley Johnston Award in 2013

The 'in conversation' will be followed by a public Q+A. Questions will be taken by Zoom chat. Your Zoom link will be sent in a PDF alongside your booking confirmation. 

This talk is free but space is limited and requires booking. 

All talks and links to recordings (where available) in the series can be seen here: https://rps.org/awardstalks