Project Idea - "Sorry, there is no photography"

When I visited London for a few days at the end of November, I visited a lot of galleries and exhibitions. I saw some great work but I think my most enduring memory was hearing the strange phrase "sorry, there is no photography". I am sure everyone has heard this at an art gallery from time to time, and probably wondered why photography is not allowed (is it really so that you buy souvenir prints or books in the gift shop?), but the fact that I heard it so much over a short amount of time made it really stick. I must point out that the comment was only directed at me once, at the Whitechapel Gallery.

What I found most strange was the precise wording that I heard on a few different occasions...

SORRY, THERE IS NO PHOTOGRAPHY

What a weird thing to say. This got me thinking about a world in which photography did not exist - could I make an interesting project from this concept? I tried thinking of the most iconic photos of all time and how their messages would have been conveyed without photography. Perhaps I could put on an exhibition where all of the "photos" were just text descriptions of the original scenes, with a "sorry, there is no photography" logo in the corner. Perhaps something like this:



I think an exhibition of these "photos" would look really great. Perhaps I could have a sign at the entrance saying "photography permitted".