Nigel Shafran: Work Books 1984 - 2018

Sion and Moore is delighted to announce its inaugural show, Work Books 1984 – 2018, a presentation of work by the photographer Nigel Shafran.

The exhibition, which has been designed by Michael Marriott, is comprised of approximately 40 books containing drawings, notes, small photographs and other printed matter, as well as films of the books – none of which have been shown in London before.

Shafran’s work books are the quotidian working ‘space’ in which he develops his ideas, but they also contain imagery and ephemera – such as car road tax discs, newspaper clippings, actual cut grass or his son’s first tooth — that are not geared towards a final photograph. The books evince Shafran’s interest in recording lived experience and bestowing value upon the everyday. Writer David Chandler suggests they are ‘part workbook, part diary, part aide-memoire’ and the basis upon which Shafran’s actual publications are conceived. As objects that have been incrementally filled with content in a private and reflective working mode, but are now on view in an exhibition, they are parallel with Shafran’s photographs: both function to make evident and long-lasting the private, interior and prosaic aspects of life as lived each day.

The founders of Sion and Moore are Kim Sion, creative consultant and former agent, and Lucy Kumara Moore, curator, writer and director of specialist bookshop, Claire de Rouen. The gallery project will present three solo exhibitions by established British or British-based photographers in 2018. The first show will take place at 4 Herald Street, a former umbrella factory in London’s East End. Each exhibition will include work unseen in London and aim to introduce important material to young audiences, broaden appreciation for those already familiar with contemporary photographic practice and to make available key works for photography collectors.

Image: Nigel Shafran, chicken pox self portrait diary page 1991 from Works Books 1984 – 2018 © the artist, courtesy of Sion and Moore