> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://photopedagogy.ghost.io/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Pictures at an Exhibition - URL: https://photopedagogy.ghost.io/pictures-at-an-exhibition/ - Published: 2025-04-02T07:27:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-19T07:28:33.000Z - Description: Some thoughts about visiting a photography exhibition with students. - Author: Jon Nicholls - Tags: Pedagogy, Exhibitions ![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fIwE!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F97d3df50-32b0-4b6f-a29c-93398bee29ed_662x800.png) I grew up in a small town in the Midlands. I studied A-level art but had never visited an art gallery until my teachers took the three of us (yes, just three A-level artists at my school!) to the Garman Ryan collection in Walsall.\* At the time, the work was housed upstairs in the library.† I can vividly remember encountering works by [Constable](https://collections.thenewartgallerywalsall.org.uk/objects/4896/landscape-with-clouds?ctx=d1f7d434-072b-4a3c-9b26-5585483d9c3f&idx=3&ref=photopedagogy.ghost.io), [Van Gogh](https://collections.thenewartgallerywalsall.org.uk/objects/4291/sorrow?ctx=3b6041a1-6297-4869-8cc1-8e42b6821ac2&idx=3&ref=photopedagogy.ghost.io), and [Gaudier-Brzeska](https://collections.thenewartgallerywalsall.org.uk/objects/4953/eagle?ctx=20621094-beee-46c5-bb60-93208c3598ac&idx=7&ref=photopedagogy.ghost.io) hanging on those fabric partitions you more often find in primary school foyers.‡ I don’t remember any security or any other visitors. It wasn’t until 2000 that the collection got the brand new gallery it deserved. I’m probably romanticising the experience but my memory is that this visit convinced me to study art history at university. It gave me the sense that there was a big world of art beyond my home town and that looking at and thinking about works of art was a serious and worthwhile business. I wonder if I’d be writing this (in my 34th year of teaching) had I not been taken to Walsall in a school mini bus all those years ago. Visiting an exhibition with young people has the potential to be both exhilarating and, frankly, depressing. I’ve been on trips which have ended in disappointment and disaster, returning to school angry, frustrated and much earlier than intended. I’ve been on trips which have transformed my understanding of young people’s amazing powers of empathy and creativity.§ Much depends on the planning. A few years ago, the Royal Photographic Society asked us to design some activities to support exhibition visits to their [gallery in Bristol](https://rps.org/exhibitions?ref=photopedagogy.ghost.io). Thanks largely to [Chris](https://www.artpedagogy.com/?ref=photopedagogy.ghost.io)’ fantastic illustrations, the resulting resource is a really fun set of tasks that can be used by visual arts teachers to plan an exhibition visit.‖ They are designed to encourage students to engage imaginatively with the work on display but also to think about how the exhibition has been framed. Yesterday, I took my Year 12 photographers to Tate Britain to see [The 80s](https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/the-80s-photographing-britain?ref=photopedagogy.ghost.io) show and be photographed by the lovely [Hydar Dewachi](https://www.hydardewachi.com/?ref=photopedagogy.ghost.io). Tate are launching their new Schools web pages and needed some publicity shots. They were willing to give us free tickets to the show in exchange. Job done! I didn’t have a huge amount of time to prepare for the visit. A quick trip to Tate Britain and a couple of hours to think and make. Whatever time you do have available, and wherever the exhibition happens to be, I do think a bit of preparation can make all the difference, for your own piece of mind if nothing else. I decided to focus on three main issues: 1. How is the exhibition framed? 2. How can we look at the photographs on display? 3. How might we document our visit?§ Here’s a summary of the activities: #### **Exhibition Entrance** - Pay attention to the ways in which this exhibition is framed. - How do you feel about the key image and introductory text? - Why are there magazines in the entrance space? - How has Tate considered the diversity of its audience and inclusivity of the exhibition?¶ - What are you expecting to find in the exhibition? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/cc/10/cc10dd61-f9df-448c-99a4-1ae3f24596e3/content/images/2026/09/eab9ab93-d8ba-4c07-911c-57d4da78a1c3_961x1280.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/cc/10/cc10dd61-f9df-448c-99a4-1ae3f24596e3/content/images/2026/09/eae34d0f-75b9-43da-8778-e636f7263ddc_960x1280-1.jpg) *Why, for example, did the curators select the self-portrait of Handsworth’s Ting A Ling as their key image (especially since it was made in the 70s)? The students suggested that it was a welcoming, fun and inclusive image. The pointing finger and beaming smile communicated the idea of photography as social, communal and light-hearted. A young black man is taking his own picture (a selfie, I suppose) using the technology of the time.\*\* The picture is about taking control of the identification process, of resisting the right wing media’s attempts to characterise you as anti-social, a mugger, or worse.* *Tate’s trailer for the show is a vibrant collage of images set to a Ska soundtrack.* *The two rows of magazines opposite the entrance suggest that print media was the dominant mode of photographic image distribution in the 80s (and that publications like* [*Ten-8*](https://derekbishton.com/other-stuff/legacy-ten8/?ref=photopedagogy.ghost.io) *set the tone for debates about the purposes of photography in a time of social upheaval).* --- #### **Room 1** - The first word in this exhibition is ‘documenting’ - what does this mean? - What’s happening in the first image in the exhibition? - How do these combine to set the tone of the exhibition? - Consider the number of images and amount of text in this first room. How does it feel? Does the display remind you of anything other than an exhibition? ![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4ZDe!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2fd86d5d-a814-4a10-a56e-7436e05007b8_1348x172.png) *A key* [*Threshold Concept*](https://www.photopedagogy.com/threshold-concept-1.html?ref=photopedagogy.ghost.io) *(#1 in fact) is the notion that we often begin to think about photographic images in terms of *genre*. I was keen for the students to begin to think about the genre of documentary. It’s such a broad term that incorporates so many different types of practice. It’s a contribution made by photography to visual culture. Unlike portraiture, landscape and still life, there’s no such thing as documentary painting, for example. What does a photographic document imply about the trustworthiness or reliability of the image? Can a documentary photograph be both candid and staged? Which political events are the subject of photographic documents in this first room? Who are the photographers?* --- #### **Rooms 2-9** - Make a list of the titles of these rooms - Think about the curation of each space - arrangement of images, colour of walls, text etc. *I spoke briefly to the students about the need to look closely at particular images that drew their attention. Far better to focus on a few images in detail rather than skimming over everything. However,* *I also reminded them that it might be useful to *zoom out* from this close looking to consider the curators’ decisions. Why are the walls of the landscape room painted pale pink, for example?††* *Why are the rooms featuring work by predominantly black artists painted black?* ![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!CUtC!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F66ec5420-40b4-4f4c-8b69-7b91cfb931bb_1208x1000.png) The titles of each of the rooms in The 80’s exhibition at Tate Britain --- #### **Room 10** - How do the images in this room help to conclude the exhibition? - How would you describe the layout of the images? Does it remind you of anything? - Does Room 10 relate to Room 1? *We didn’t have time to discuss the final room together. The display is quite different to the other spaces. I wondered if this was, in part, to indicate the growing importance of the fashion magazine as a container for radical photography towards the end of the 1980s and into the 90s. I hope the students were able to reflect on the shape of the exhibition as a whole. We did talk about the ‘argument’ of the show and the students came up with lots of interesting ideas.* --- #### **Photographing the exhibition (and other spaces)** 1. Photograph a sequence of **details** (close-ups) across several rooms. Choose ONE of the following: faces, objects, a repeated colour or select ONE of your own. 2. **Treasure hunt**. Find and photograph the following: a white wig, a stop sign, the word ‘rebels’, a third prize egg, a red coat, a camera, a gun, a tyre, a book about Sigmund Freud, Bob Marley, a face in a mirror, a baby wearing a hat, a yellow car, a life buoy, a pierced nipple, an armpit. 3. Choose **one image** that most closely relates to your personal investigation. Explain why. Photograph it. What can you take from this exhibition to help you further develop your investigation? 4. Choose your **favourite room**. Capture what you like about it in only 3 photographs - a wide shot, a medium shot and a close-up. *Exhibitions can be overwhelming and hard to ‘see’. Photographing is a way to connect with the work on display but I did remind the students that they were *photography* students and not general visitors. Consequently, they should try to make carefully composed images even if they were using their phones.* *After we’d been to the show, we spent some time in the other galleries. Again, I felt a few prompts (constraints?) might help students to focus:* - Find the following works of art. Photograph them carefully. Then make photographs of your own inspired by one or more of them. Consider: colour, composition, pattern, space, light etc. Room 17\. **William Scott** \- Orange, Black and White, 1953 Room 21\. **Chris Killip** \- Windowless Houses, Killingworth New Town, Tyneside, 1975 Room 26\. **Gillian Wearing** \- Everything is connected in life…, 1992-3 Now, choose your own image/object and make a photographic response to it. - Choose one sculpture on display. Photograph it five times from different angles but never showing the whole thing. Consider shapes, forms, textures, patterns, light, shadow, colour/tones etc. - Take at least 10 photographs of the gallery’s architecture. Think about angles, textures, light, patterns, repetition etc. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/cc/10/cc10dd61-f9df-448c-99a4-1ae3f24596e3/content/images/2026/09/87dbb53f-ed5b-4f68-a56a-320b2d948f21_1280x1280.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/cc/10/cc10dd61-f9df-448c-99a4-1ae3f24596e3/content/images/2026/09/6bf1f27f-27ee-4d29-b738-2f68e8228f3f_1542x1230-1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/cc/10/cc10dd61-f9df-448c-99a4-1ae3f24596e3/content/images/2026/09/85da41dd-6060-4889-a91f-dc932f6c0327_828x1250-1.jpg) Work by William Scott, Chris Killip and Gillian Wearing currently on display in Tate Britain *I often find paintings (and other forms of visual art) to be a great source of inspiration for photographs. The displays of 19th and 20th painting and sculpture (mostly) at Tate Britain have been thoughtfully curated and include contextual photographs in vitrines, curated by contemporary artists, highlighting critical issues e.g. colonial attitudes or the representation of black people in British society etc.* *It was great to have Hydar with us throughout our visit. If you don’t know* [*his work*](https://www.hydardewachi.com/brit-ish/?ref=photopedagogy.ghost.io) *I strongly urge you to check it out.* *Thanks to him for engaging so positively with the students, suggesting compositions, how to find the best light and why it’s important to collaborate both in front of and behind the camera. Thanks also to Fala, Assistant Curator at Tate, for being such a generous guide.* --- We spent a total of three hours at Tate Britain, including a small break for lunch. I feel very lucky that my group of students were so thoughtful, kind and enthusiastic. I’m sure we would have had a great time whether or not I’d given them a resource to use. I’m not actually sure whether they completed any or all of the tasks I’d designed. I didn’t check. It wasn’t a test! I do know that spending a bit of time preparing for the visit helped me think about how to tackle the show and improved the quality of my interactions with students in the gallery. I felt better informed and I hope that the group felt reassured by a certain amount of structure and a few creative constraints. Growing up in London, surrounded by free, top quality culture, is such a privilege but it’s surprising how many students can feel intimidated by art galleries and prefer to stay close to home. School trips still have the potential to be transformative experiences. Each time I plan a trip I like to think that I’m paying a debt to my art teachers and an afternoon in Walsall library. Thanks to my lovely Year 12 A-level photographers for their support. --- Thanks for reading PhotoPedagogy! Subscribe for free to receive new posts. [Subscribe](#/portal/signup/free) *These posts will always be free but, if you enjoy reading them, you can support my analogue photography habit, and that of my students, by contributing to the film fund. Thanks to those of you who have already done so. All donations of whatever size are very gratefully received.* [Buy me some film](https://buymeacoffee.com/photopedagogy?ref=photopedagogy.ghost.io) --- \* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garman\_Ryan\_Collection](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garman%5FRyan%5FCollection?ref=photopedagogy.ghost.io) † I think we visited in 1982. ‡ [https://thenewartgallerywalsall.org.uk/exhibition/dealing-with-dreams-the-garman-ryan-collection-40th-anniversary-exhibition](https://thenewartgallerywalsall.org.uk/exhibition/dealing-with-dreams-the-garman-ryan-collection-40th-anniversary-exhibition?ref=photopedagogy.ghost.io) § I’ve also been on (at least two) trips disrupted by major terrorist incidents but that’s for another post entirely. ‖ [https://www.photopedagogy.com/exhibition-visit-activities](https://www.photopedagogy.com/exhibition-visit-activities?ref=photopedagogy.ghost.io) ¶ The ability to collaborate with a professional photographer was also a major affordance. I encouraged the students to get fully involved in the publicity shoot, thinking about how Hydar worked, what equipment he was using, how he spoke to them, the combination of staged and candid shots etc. I also shared an excerpt from Tate’s brief which asked for “Joy, Collective Discovery, Independence, Inviting, Agency, Social”. \*\* During our visit there were several families with small children, for example. I felt as though Tate had made a special effort to make this show accessible to a large, diverse audience. †† You can just about see the cable release in his left hand. ‡‡ One student cleverly suggested that the pink was sampled from the maps in Ingrid Pollard’s ‘[The Cost of the English Landscape](https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/pollard-the-cost-of-the-english-landscape-t15537?ref=photopedagogy.ghost.io)’, 1989