Olympics Photography Exhibition Celebrating Multicultural London

The Photographers’ Gallery to launch major outdoor photography exhibition as part of the London 2012 Festival 

The World in London is a major public art project initiated by The Photographers’ Gallery, to coincide with the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The project brings together 204 specially commissioned photographic portraits of 204 Londoners, each originating from one of the nations competing at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The 204 portraits will be exhibited as large-scale posters in Victoria Park in East London, and in the Ramillies Street pedestrian zone opposite The Photographers’ Gallery in the heart of Soho.

The World in London explores portraiture and cultural diversity using photography, one of the most accessible and democratic artistic mediums of our times. The project celebrates London as a place where individuals from all parts of the world live side by side, each of them contributing to make London the unique city it is. Emerging photographers will be shown alongside leading national and international artists, such as Faisal Adu’Allah (took the photograph for Benin), JH Engström (Georgia), Joakim Eskildsen (Czech Republic), Anna Fox (Gambia), LaToya Frazier (Cayman Islands), Toby Glanville (Venezuela), Jim Goldberg (Dominica), Dryden Goodwin (Syria), Jacqueline Hassink (Morocco), Pieter Hugo (Rwanda), Tom Hunter (Iceland), Nadav Kander (Lesotho), Karen Knorr (Puerto Rico), Mary McCartney (India), Dennis Morris (Haiti), Martin Parr (São Tomé and Príncipe), Anders Petersen (Serbia), Rankin (Niger), Stefan Ruiz (Djibouti), Nigel Shafran (Gabon), Stephen Shore (Kazakhstan), Alec Soth (Netherlands), Vanessa Winship (Colombia), Tom Wood (Barbados) and Catherine Yass (Hungary).

All of the photographers have been commissioned by The Photographers’ Gallery to take portrait shots of the sitters over the last three years. The image for Great Britain is a portrait of the late Alexander McQueen, the fashion designer legend who was photographed by American born photographer Andres Serrano in February 2009.

The hunt is now on to find the final 6 sitters for the project. The Photographers’ Gallery is looking for Londoners from the following countries to take part: American Samoa, FS Micronesia, Guam, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau.

Victoria Park, London E3: 27 July until 27 August 2012 
Ramillies Street, Soho, London W1F7LW: 
27 July until October 2012

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