States of America

This autumn, Nottingham Contemporary will host its first photography group exhibition exploring North American photography from the 1960s through to the late 1980s.

This timely exhibition provides a backdrop to the social and political shifts that have created the society we live in today. Focusing on a time when a new generation of photographers experimented with innovative approaches to documentary photography, States of America explores North American urban landscape and social contexts from the Civil Rights movement to the Reagan era. Important shifts in this period have, arguably, led to the rise of the polarised social and political landscape in which we live today.

Featuring over 200 works by 17 photographers, the exhibition spans three decades of a changing nation, from the decay of urban centres and industry to the development of suburban life and mass advertising. As one of the largest surveys of North American photography in the UK outside of London, States of America is an important and timely exhibition, particularly in light of Trump’s controversial vision of making America great again.

Artists include: Diane Arbus, Dawoud Bey, Mark Cohen, Bruce Davidson, Louis Draper, William Eggleston, Lee Friedlander, Jim Goldberg, Danny Lyons, Mary Ellen Mark, Nicholas Nixon, Bill Owens, Milton Rogovin, Stephen Shore, Ming Smith, Joseph Szabo and Garry Winogrand

Curated by Irene Aristizábal and Abi Spinks

States of America is a collaboration with the Wilson Centre for Photography.