鈥淗ome is a mood. It鈥檚 an atmosphere. It鈥檚 the community, it鈥檚 people鈥 the various ingredients of your life that are 鈥 says British photographer, writer and broadcaster Johny Pitts (b. 1987) about his touring exhibition Home is Not a Place, on display at The Photographers’ Gallery, London. First in September 2022, Home is Not a Place is a collaboration between Pitts and T. S. Eliot Prize winning poet , and an attempt to answer the question: 鈥淲hat is Black Britain?鈥
鈥淚n late winter 2021, we set off in a rented red Mini Cooper, following the coast clockwise, chasing the promise of brown skin in marine light鈥 We left London and followed the River Thames east, towards Gravesend, where Pocahontas is buried, and where, just across the river at Tilbury, the Empire Windrush docked in 1948. Too often, that is where the history told about Black Britain begins and ends, but we continued, following the coast clockwise through Margate, Dover, Brighton, Southampton, Plymouth, Land鈥檚 End, Bristol, Cardiff, Liverpool, Blackpool, Belfast, Glasgow, John O鈥橤roats, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Scarborough, Hull, Skegness, Orford Ness and Southend-on-Sea,鈥 .听
Born to an African-American father from New York, and a white mother from Sheffield, Pitts grew up in South Yorkshire. He also briefly lived in Japan as a child, a country he鈥檚 often returned to in adult life. Having been exposed to multiple cultures, it鈥檚 not surprising that Pitts has a transnational approach to his practice. The exhibition title is a quote from James Baldwin鈥檚 novel Giovanni鈥檚 Room, a 1956 American classic about homosexual love. 鈥淧erhaps home is not a place but simply an irrevocable condition,鈥 says the main character David, an American man living in Paris. “Home” is to be understood, then, as both a geographical destination, and something constructed through markers of identity. The location of one鈥檚 home can change, either by choice or circumstance, but as a metaphor it is more permanent, characterised by race, ethnicity, cultural beliefs and/or sexuality. It’s a place one reaches out to for solace or strength.
What stands out is the exhibition’s restrained execution, contained within one floor of the gallery. There are shows where one can feel overwhelmed and lost due to the sheer volume of images on display. Pitts鈥 pared back approach 鈥 despite working with 15 years鈥 worth of archive, as well as new material produced with funding from the 2021 Ampersand Photoworks Fellowship 鈥 has a simplicity that鈥檚 refreshing and unpretentious. Moving from one room to another feels like browsing through a family album. 鈥淧eaceful鈥 is perhaps not an adjective commonly used to describe a photo display, yet Home is Not a Place feels just that.
Curated by Karen McQuaid, who closely worked with Pitts, the exhibition mainly comprises portraits of people captured in posed and candid moments, going about their everyday lives. The measured approach successfully conveys the 鈥榚verydayness鈥 of the Black experience in Britain, be it children going to school, a couple outside a photo studio, or a group of young girls against the backdrop of a clear blue sky, deliberately posing for the camera. There鈥檚 no need to resort to theatrical displays, or cram every available space with an image. Free from clutter, the gallery space, which has transformed into a 鈥榟ome鈥, offers viewers the scope to slow down and contemplate what home means to each of us. The exhibition also contains images from , a project that Pitts worked on whilst visiting the country. Additionally, there鈥檚 a large table stacked with albums containing archival images, and an installation that mirrors a cosy living room, replete with a leather sofa, a centre table, a vintage TV and a shelf stacked with Pitts鈥 personal relics, including a selection of VHS tapes, books and cassettes. It鈥檚 notable that none of the images have captions. Celebrated figures from literature and culture are next to people who have ordinary lives. By removing hierarchies, Pitts wants to 鈥渃reate something more egalitarian.鈥
| Until 24 September
Words: Shyama Laxman
All images 漏 Johny Pitts
