The Mexican Suitcase
Screening at Frontline Club, London: The Mexican Suitcase + Q&A - November 5, 2012 7:00 PM
In the chaos caused by the beginning of World War II in Europe, three small boxes disappeared to be found again in a closet in Mexico City in 2007. They contained 4,500 unique negatives, the work of three friends; Robert Capa, David “Chim” Seymour and Gerda Taro.
Exiled from their respective countries they were committed anti-fascists and travelled to Spain to fight the rise of Franco with their cameras. Their vivid frontline photography captured the brutal realities of the Spanish Civil War.The Mexican Suitcase reveals the journey these lost negatives made from France to Mexico and tells the story of their recovery 70 years later.
By putting the photographs in the context of the Spanish Civil War and the exiled community in Mexico, director Trisha Ziff looks at the power of memory and how it relates to history, questioning who owns memories and who has the power to define popular narratives.
Directed by Trisha Ziff
When photographer Lewis Whyld of the Press Association arrived on Tottenham High Street on 6 August, the first and fiercest night of this summer’s riots, he soon saw three other photographers being attacked. For the next hour he was forced to shoot on his mobile phone, and only pulled out his cameras once it was dark.
Shooting by the light of the police helicopter searchlight, Whyld captured these images that went right round the world. In this multimedia piece Whyld reveals how he documented a night of unrest in north London.
Beautiful slide show of this year’s Summershow at Foto8
watch here
