FAMILY TIES

Photography Exhibition

Curator – Kasia Kowalska

The Gallery Café

2nd – 29th July 2024

Family Ties features thirteen artists who address compelling questions around how photography can both shape and reveal our distinctive perspectives on the subjects of memory, family, migration and temporality.

Petya Abraham | Giulia Ballarin | Mina Boromand | Alba de la Cruz | Ania Dąbrowska

Cristina Filimon | Nina Ijomone |Kasia Kowalska |Therry Maltauro |Heather McDonough

Angela Moreno Dilyana Tankova | Fiona Yaron-Field

We are made of pieces of the past, and the future is made of pieces of us.’

Angela Moreno, Renegotiating identity through the family album, 2022

Can a photograph stand in for a memory?

How does photography shape our memories and experience?

Can a photographic image reinforce or reshape our familial ties?

What do photographs reveal about how we interact with our families?

Does the experience of migration alter our relationship with family photographs?

Petya Abraham

Pass the Love Forward I, 2022

Alba de la Cruz

El manton de la abuela: Cara B, 2022

Considering these and many other questions, the artists in this exhibition offer their contemporary response and make evident why the family photographic archive remains a central subject in photography, and invite us to delve deeper into the myriad connections between the photographic image, temporality, migration and memory.

Nina Ijomone

Navigating Domestic Legacies II, 2023

Giulia Ballarin

Of memory and belonging I, 2022

All the exhibiting artists are associated with London Metropolitan University’s Photography degree course - be it as students, alumnae or tutors - and thus belong to its unique photographic community.

Ania Dabrowska

Lollipop, 2021

Family Ties exhibition is curated by Kasia Kowalska, a Polish-born photographic artist living and working in London. She is a British Journal of Photography’s Portrait of Britain winner and Association of Photographers Student Awards winner. She graduated in BA Photography from London Metropolitan University in 2023. She recently curated Underground Portraits by Wolfgang Strassl photography exhibition at Photobook Café.

Therry Maltauro

Me Mum and Dad 1969, 2023

The curator is especially grateful to Virginia Orr, Exhibition Coordinator at St. Margaret’s House, for her guidance and support.

The curator also wishes to thank all the exhibiting artists for their participation, as well as Nina Ijomone, Cristina Filimon, Ania Dąbrowska and Mina Boromand for their contribution in shaping this exhibition.

Graphic Design: Nina Ijomone Studio @ninaijomone

Instagram: Cristina Filimon @crissfilimon

Please follow us on Instagram @family_ties_exhibition

Cristina Filimon

Sisters II, 2024