Francis Hodgson

Stevedore, by Walker Evans Walker Evans, Stevedore, Havana 1933 A stevedore photographed by Walker Evans in Cuba in 1933. Evans’ time in Cuba was interesting and complicated – there’s a fine essay by John Tagg in Photographies in 2009 to give just a taste of how complicated, and it’s there I refound the picture. Great photographers control our readings of pictures. See how two blemishes on the left ( his left ) of his nose, one smaller by the corner of the eye and one larger by the nostril, and the line of freckles on the right ( his right ) of his nose simply demand to be read as tears running down the face.

I've written about a glorious portrait by Walker Evans and the possibility of reading too much into a photograph. Find it on francishodgson.com.

If You Don’t Know, You Won’t Go: Aïda Muluneh in Bradford If you visit the website set up to showcase Bradford as the 2025 City of Culture, the very first page that you come to – at least at the moment (February 2025) – celebrates the major photographic commission awarded to Aïda Muluneh and the resultant exhibition at Impressions Gallery. Those websites are not sequenced by chance. This means in effect that Muluneh can be considered the lead visual artist of the City of Culture.

If You Don’t Know, You Won’t Go: Aïda Muluneh in Bradford

If you visit the website set up to showcase Bradford as the 2025 City of Culture, the very first page that you come to – at least at the moment (February 2025) – celebrates the major photographic commission awarded to Aïda Muluneh and the…