“There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort” - Jane Austen

The exhibition is exclusively on view online from 25 May to 31 July 2021 and brings together the works of Magnum photographers Antoine d’Agata, Raymond Depardon, Bieke Depoorter, Bruce Gilden, Harry Gruyaert, Gregory Halpern, Peter Marlow, Susan Meiselas, Martin Parr, Paolo Pellegrin, Alessandra Sanguinetti, and Alec Soth.

Resonating with much of current human experience around the world, the exhibition reflects on the concept of home as a central place for solace and security which can promise hope and a more favourable future during complex, long and uncertain moments in life.  ‘There’s no place like home’ examines how personal spaces— both mental and tangible— the sense of belonging, the act of sheltering and shared human experiences have brought optimism and healed.

While recommendations from governments to ‘stay at home’ have been issued around the world in the wake of the pandemic, creative pursuits, and human connections have helped on the long road to recovery and the return to light. Questioning the very definition of home, envisaging space as a nurturing and comfortable means to reach peace and safety, the exhibition features Magnum photographers working around a common set of reflections.

The exhibition includes a selection of works from Antoine d’Agata’s most recent critically-acclaimed series VIRUS. From the first day of lockdown following the outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic in March 2020, d’Agata roamed the streets of Paris with a thermal camera to record the viral epidemic that turned the city into a strange theatre of buildings, wandering souls, and fleeing bodies. His resulting orange, yellow, purple and black images of houses convey a psychedelic impression of a dystopian future.

France, Paris, Gare du Nord, 13 April 2020, lockdown during the covid19 crisis © Antoine d'Agata / Magnum Photos.

France, Bordeaux, April 2020, Bagatelle Hospital during Covid-19 outbreak © Antoine d'Agata / Magnum Photos.

France, Nord-Pas de Calais region, Pas-de-Calais department, Waben © Raymond Depardon / Magnum Photos.

France, Nord-Pas de Calais region. © Raymond Depardon / Magnum Photos.

"When I was working on Belgium in the 70’s, I took pictures of a great number of processions and carnivals. I was more interested by the people coming out of their homes to watch what was going on than by the processions themselves. It gave me the impression I was going inside their home, into their living room." Harry Gruyaert.

Offering more hope toward a return to normal life and outside leisure are Harry Gruyaert’s vibrant compositions also on view in the show, ‘Boom Fair’ from 1981 and ‘Brabant, Commemoration of the Battle of Waterloo’, 1981.

Belgium, Boom, Fair, 1981 © Harry Gruyaert / Magnum Photos.

Belgium, Brabant, Commemoration of the Battle of Waterloo © Harry Gruyaert / Magnum Photos.

USA, Minneapolis, MN. 2017 © Alec Soth / Magnum Photos.

USA, Buffalo, NY, 2011 © Gregory Halpern / Magnum Photos.

The parallels between Gregory Halpern’s Buffalo, NY 2011 and Alec Soth’s Minneapolis, 2017, works will be evident to the viewers. Halpern has said, “Photographers have a way of organizing / simplifying the chaos that is the world around us. And it is said that photography is uniquely suited to ‘reflect’ the world around us, but what if our surroundings are complex to the point of being visually and verbally indescribable? That conundrum is the reality I want to reflect, with the creation of a rightfully impenetrable thing.” Both photographers depict America’s difficult social realities exacerbated today by the terrible pandemic. Their work is both rooted in the real and the sublime.

Further highlights include iconic black and white images by Bruce Gilden staging, respectively, an empty sofa, and a beach scene on Coney Island. Known for his graphic and often confrontational close-ups made using flash, his images have a degree of intimacy and directness that have become his signature. “Of all the couples I have photographed this is my favorite. It was near the theater district on Broadway and surprisingly, it was not in my first book “Facing New York””. Bruce Gilden said in 2021 about his striking work. He added, “I was on the beach in Coney island when I saw this woman in her bathing attire. As I was kneeling on the sand taking photos of her from close range with my 28mm lens, someone came up to her and asked her what I was taking photos of. She pointed at me and by doing this, it made my photograph.”

USA, Fernley, Nevada, November, 2011, Abandoned furniture outside a foreclosed house © Bruce Gilden / Magnum Photos.

USA, NYC, Coney Island, 1982, Woman on beach pointing at a man near her © Bruce Gilden / Magnum Photos.

"I was working on my Foreclosure project titled No Place Like Home in a development outside Las Vegas, Nevada called Fernley. As we were driving through the development I saw this lonely couch which had been thrown out. It was in front of a house that seemed to be empty and it felt almost like a strange invitation to sit down." - Bruce Gilden

USA, New York City, 1984 © Bruce Gilden / Magnum Photos.

Switzerland, March 28, 2020, Family quarantining in the mountains. Emma plays at a vacant barn near the family’s house © Paolo Pellegrin / Magnum Photos.

Switzerland, March 13, 2020, Family quarantining in the mountains. Emma plays at a vacant barn near the family’s house © Paolo Pellegrin / Magnum Photos.

Switzerland, March 29, 2020, Family quarantining in the mountains. Emma plays at a vacant barn near the family’s house © Paolo Pellegrin / Magnum Photos.

In dialogue with Marlow’s interior scenes are Martin Parr’s two iconic images of England, ‘We wanted a cottagey stately home kind of feel’ from 1991. They feature a light socket and a quotidian scene of a man mowing his lawn. Themes of daily life, boredom and routine have occupied Parr for much of his career, all of which are explored with remarkable irony in these two works.

UK, England, From ' Signs of the Times', 'We wanted a cottagey stately home kind of feel.' 1991 © Martin Parr / Magnum Photos.

UK, England, Chew Stoke, Mowing the lawn, 1992 UK, England, From ' Signs of the Times', 'We wanted a cottagey stately home kind of feel.' 1991 © Martin Parr / Magnum Photos.

UK, London, Eel Pie Island, 'Sycamores' Gladys Heaths house on the island, 2001 © Peter Marlow Foundation / Magnum Photos.

UK, London, Eel Pie Island, 'Sycamores' Gladys Heaths' house on the island, 2001 © Peter Marlow Foundation / Magnum Photos.

Argentina, Buenos Aires Province, 2001. © Alessandra Sanguinetti / Magnum Photos.

Argentina, Buenos Aires, 1998, Belinda with Rosita. Argentina, Buenos Aires Province, 2001. © Alessandra Sanguinetti / Magnum Photos.

Alessandra Sanguinetti’s poetic works on view close the exhibition on a positive note. The photographer’s images stress the importance of simple human connections and the significance of a relationship with nature.

Argentina, Buenos Aires, 2001, Rainbow and duck. © Alessandra Sanguinetti / Magnum Photos.

Argentina, Buenos Aires, 2008, Noon Feed, Pablo feeding the black bird Belinda and him found fallen form a nest after a storm. © Alessandra Sanguinetti / Magnum Photos.

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