You should have heard of 125 Magazine if you’ve followed contemporary photography over the past 3 years. If you haven't, then its time to take off your sleeping masks. It's the infamous east-London-fashion-scene-meets-chin-scratching-photographic-gallery, all messed up into a beautiful bi-annual publication.
Apart from being one of very few magazines that devotes its pages to pure photography and imagery, each issue has a theme, which is set in advance so that it’s readership of both emerging and established photographers can submit images, resulting in a constant flux of thematic content. The responses to the themes are varied and compelling and make the magazine a prism, through which a single idea can be broken in to its constituent parts. By enabling this creative dialogue between the theme and the photographer the substance of the magazine is pushed toward the absolute edge of contemporary photography.
Last year, the boys over at 125 thought that we'd like to see some large scale photography in print, so they've branched out from the magazine and opened a pop-up gallery on Great Eastern Street. Viewing the images framed and mounted seems effortless and naturally, if you are a reader, there is a feeling of recognition as you see images from past issues on the gallery wall, poised and polished. The project closes the gap between the published world and the environment of the gallery, realising the potential of selected photographs from the magazine, and demonstrating an alternative route to the gallery wall. Great works by Steve Harris and Finlay Mackay are shown in all their glory and splendour.
There is also an array of amazing photography books that are rare to find in London. Some are from the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in America and there are breathtaking oversized books by Paolo Roversi, with a little bit of Robert Frank thrown in for good measure.
It’s a little gem and a unique chance to see some fresh work. Runs till end of January and even opens late on a Thursday nights 9pm!!!
51 Great Eastern Street, London EC2A 3HP
Open 7 days a week till 7pm and 9pm on Thursday nights.
http://www.125magazine.com/index.php?p_id=300&pg=391