Hi ,

Welcome to February's edition of my Friends' Catchup, and a big hello to those of you who've recently joined up 👋

I'd like to start this month by acknowledging what's happening in Ukraine. I'm not a supporter of using violence and intimidation for political or personal gain. The pain, injury, death and destruction Putin's invasion is causing - as most conflict does - is unjustifiable. I stand with the people of Ukraine, and hope that my government in the UK reverse their decision to reject all visa applications from Ukraine and instead choose - like so many other countries - to help those displaced by the conflict.

In this month's newsletter:

• Update: Tiny Egypt update; Manchester Museum confirms its reopening
• Photo of the month: Tented dreams exhibition, Liverpool Arab Arts Exhibition 2018
• A dose of inspiration: Don McCullin's The Landscape
• Wise words: on photographic inspiration from Don McCullin

Updates

Tiny Egypt

Photographing an amulet of Thoth as a baboon at Manchester Museum

Since we last spoke, I've now done a day at each of my three partner museums: Manchester Museum, the Garstang Museum of Archaeology, and Bolton Libraries and Museums.

They were all fruitful sessions, photographing amulets, scarabs (including a beautiful amethyst scarab at the Garstang), a carnelian hyena's-head bead, and clay seal impressions from Amarna. I've just emailed members of the Tiny Egypt Society with some of the photos I made over those days.

I'll be sharing them more widely soon, but I want to get a bit more work done on them and share them with their respective curators before I do so.

However, I will say that I've made images that have really quite excited me (and learnt a few things, too). I'll be getting some more sessions booked in soon, as I can't ever stay away too long!

I'm also booking in a meeting with Warrington Museum and Art Gallery later this week to talk about Tiny Egypt, which is exciting, so watch this space!

Members of the Tiny Egypt Society are the backbone of this project; I really couldn't keep it going without their amazing support.

If you'd like to be one of those project patrons who see my new photos before anyone else does, get behind-the-scenes news and help shape the project, you can do so by joining the Society from only £1.00 per month (first month half price). When you join up, you'll get a link to the full archive of emails I've sent out, so you'll be able to catch up, including seeing the all-new photos from this last month.

• Join the Society via the Tiny Egypt project page

Manchester Museum confirms its reopening

Manchester Museum has just confirmed that it will be reopening its doors in February 2023.

This is following extensive work to the building, including constructing a new gallery for temporary exhibitions, and the first exhibition it'll be housing is Golden Mummies of Egypt (yay!).

I really can't wait to see the exhibition; the photos I've seen of it in the US and China look amazing. Some of the images I made of artefacts are featured big in the exhibitions displays, and I'm always excited to see my photos used like this.

Will you be coming over to see Golden Mummies when it returns to Manchester? If so, hit that reply button and let me know!

• Find out more about the work on Manchester Museum's website

Photo of the month

This month's photo of the month is one I've chosen for what it represents, considering conflict new and old, and those displaced by it.

Taken back in 2018 when I was volunteering for the Liverpool Arab Arts Festival, you see festival curator Jack leading a group of visitors around an exhibition in St George's Hall in central Liverpool. The exhibition was called 'Tented Dreams', and featured works of art made by Syrian artist Mohammed Amari and the refugees living in the Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan he was working with. Lacking canvas or paper, the works of art by the refugees were painted on sections cut out from old UN tents.

Many of the paintings were displayed like this one, standing out from the wall so you could also see the back of them, where you could see remnants of UN text and Arabic handwriting.

The atmosphere amongst the group was one of quiet respect and pensiveness, and it's an exhibition and an experience that will stay with me for some time to come.

• Find out more about the annual Liverpool Arab Arts Festival on their website

A dose of inspiration

This month's dose of inspiration is the book The Landscape, by photographer Don McCullin (and yes, that is a paw in the corner; I was being ably assisted Cookie the dog 🐕).

Don McCullin's career as a photographer has spanned several decades, documenting wars, conflict and poverty. His postings during the 1960s and 70s included Northern Ireland, Vietnam, post-war Berlin, the Congo, Cambodia and Uganda, as well as documenting the poverty of East London in the 1950s, where he grew up, and the 'industrial' north of England.

He's been witness to such abuse and tragedy, and has often questioned the ethics of what he was doing for a living; having to prioritise 'getting the shot' and remaining detached from the scenes he was capturing, when those around him were badly hurt or dying.

Now in his 80s, McCullin has spent more recent years focussing on landscape and travel photography as a way to try to come to terms with what he's witnessed during his life. Although a completely different subject to his photography of conflict, his style remains; beautiful, atmospheric black and white grainy photography.

The Landscape not only includes his work from Somerset in Southwest England, where he now lives, but also photography of the now-ruined city of Palmyra (both before and after its destruction) and a beautiful image from Meroë:

We see a lot of travel and landscape photography online these days. There's a lot of great work out there. But, there's also a lot of derivative work, too - ultra-sharp, ultra-processed, ultra-saturated carbon copies. It's too easy to get caught up in videos on YouTube telling you that in order to do 'proper' landscape photography, you must go hiking for miles, with mulitple cameras, lenses, tripods, filters, and the kitchen sink strapped to your back. Then spend hours on the computer finely tuning every pixel in your photos. His work is testament to the fact that that doesn't have to be the case.

I don't know exactly what equipment he takes with him, but I'm confident that an octogenarian documentary photographer will be keeping it minimal. And that he doesn't become obsessed with having to get every part of the photo exposed; the shadows and the graininess are atmospheric and beautiful.

And I find that inspiring. That it's OK to strip things back and find our own way to creativity and expression. That images as beautiful as his can be made with less equipment. It's a wonderful example of 'less is more', and it gives the rest of us something to aspire to.

• The Landscape is widely available; you can get it for £46.50 on bookshop.org (good for supporting local bookshops) and Blackwell's for £34.46 (at the time of writing)
• Read more about Don McCullin's life over on his website
• See the Meroë photo in more detail on the Ocula website

Wise words

This month's wise words come from Don McCullin:

Photography for me is not looking, it's feeling. If you can't feel what you're looking at, then you're never going to get others to feel anything when they look at your pictures.

This is why I photograph Egyptian artefacts and explore heritage sites. They inspire me. It's what makes me want to go out with my camera and to then sit down at my computer and share it with you.

I would never compare myself with McCullin; I can only aspire. But, having something to aspire to is a good thing. It's what keeps us pushing ourselves ever forward.

So, that's it for another month. Feel free to hit reply and let me know what you've been up to, or if you have any recommendations for the Dose of Inspiration and Wise Words section of the newsletter. Or share photos you've made of the heritage attractions and art installations you've explored. I'd love to hear from you!

Until next month,

Julia