Can't Smile Without You by Martin Andersen

Photographer and life-long Tottenham Hotspur fan, Martin Andersen has turned his camera on his fellow fans to create 'Can't Smile Without You', an intimate and often visceral collection of photographs taken at home, away, and across Europe from 2013 until 2017 with the last game played at the White Hart Lane stadium. Selected and edited from over one hundred different games, Andersen presents an authentic and unflinching documentation of the fans and their resultant relationships and community. His imagery depicts the drama, tensions, and raw emotions involved in such unwavering support of a football team that infiltrates every part of life.

Capturing a rapidly changing culture and a unique moment in Tottenham Hotspur's history following the demolition of the 118 year-old stadium at White Hart Lane at the end of the 2016/17 season, the monochrome images in 'Can't Smile Without You' have a timeless quality that transcends the recent era they were taken in. These could be images of any diehard football fans and of the associated rituals, pre and post match, that are an integral part of being one.

Tottenham Hotspur - Newcastle United (1-2), 26th Oct. 2014 © Martin Andersen

The 90 minute football game itself is only a small fraction of what it is to be a fan. In response to this, Andersen's focus lies mainly on the action taking place outside of the stadium, yet unsettlingly his powerful and graphic images never provide an answer as to how these actions conclude. As Joe Kerr writes in his foreword to 'Can't Smile Without You', I'm both fascinated and frightened by what these images imply, just as I was as a child by pictures of ships in a storm, and I'm just as happy now as then not to know what happens next.

In addition to the 119 photographs that were edited and graded by acclaimed photographer Kim Thue, 'Can't Smile Without You' features texts by lifelong Tottenham fans Felix Petty, Editor at i-D Magazine and Joe Kerr, a writer and bus driver at Tottenham Garage.

A selection of images from 'Can't Smile Without You' will be exhibited at Pocko from 6th March to 3rd April 2020.

Tottenham Hotspur - Liverpool (0-3), 31st Aug. 2014 © Martin Andersen

All about the exhibition
Pocko, 51A King Henry's Walk, Mildmay Ward, London N1 4NH
Private View and Book Signing: Thursday 5th March 6pm-9pm
Exhibition dates: 6th March - 3rd April 2020
www.pocko.com

All about Martin Andersen

Martin Andersen (b.1972, Denmark) is a photographer, art director and designer. His photography work has been published and exhibited internationally in China, France, Japan, Mexico, the UK, and the USA. Additionally Andersen has directed music videos for artists such as: The Breeders, Lush, Iceage, and Lowly and created films for Channel 4, Discovery Channel, and ITV.

Based in South London, he runs the creative studio Andersen M. His film work has won many international awards and both his design and photography has been exhibited internationally.

Andersen also lectures at Central Saint Martins, School of Fashion, London, University of Brighton and at Cambridge School of Visual & Performing Arts.

Tottenham Hotspur - Hull (2-0), 16th May 2015 © Martin Andersen

Borussia Dortmund - Tottenham Hotspur (3-0), 10th March 2016 © Martin Andersen

All about Martin Andersen

Michael Joseph: Lost & Found

By Michael Joseph

Publisher : Kehrer Verlag

2024 | 144 pages

Lost & Found documents a contemporary American subculture of young Travelers through raw, striking portraiture and intimate storytelling. These Travelers abandon home to move around the country by hitchhiking and freight train hopping in a nomadic, transient existence outside of mainstream society. Along their personal journey driven by wanderlust, escapism, or a search for transient jobs, they find a new family in their traveling friends.

The high of freedom, however, does not come without consequence. The black and white portraits are made in public, on the street, using natural light. Individual stories, as a collection, form a greater narrative. Over ten years in the making, Joseph’s portraits reveal the human condition. They capture courage, tenderness, and determination in his subjects that have been largely ignored and unseen.

An incredible book that we highly recommend! All About Photo

All About Michael Joseph

Nick Brandt: Sink / Rise, The Day May Break: Chapter Three

By Nick Brandt

Publisher : Hatje Cantz

2024 | 120 pages

Through his widely acclaimed work, English photographer Nick Brandt (1964) addresses pressing environmental issues, consistently highlighting mankind’s impact upon the natural world. His work is truly a fusion of artistry and activism, and he is best known for capturing the majestic landscapes of Africa as well as intimate portraits of its wildlife. Sink / Rise is the third chapter of The Day May Break, an ongoing global series portraying ecological degradation and destruction. This chapter adopts a slightly different approach than its predecessors: taking humans, rather than animals or landscapes, as his subjects. Sink / Rise focuses on South Pacific Islanders impacted by rising oceans from climate change. The people in these photos, photographed underwater in the ocean off the coast of the Fijian islands, are local representatives of the many people whose homes, land and livelihoods will be lost in the coming decades as the water rises. In Brandt’s images, the Islanders sit down at tables, stand on chairs and embrace―all the while, their pinched expressions reveal the desperation of their asphyxiating condition.

All About Nick Brandt

Lisa McCord: Rotan Switch

By Lisa McCord:

Publisher : Kehrer Verlag

2024 | 204 pages

Rotan Switch is the first monograph by Lisa McCord, documenting life on her grandparents’ cotton farm in the Arkansas Delta community of Rotan. It takes its name from the community’s central landmark—the railroad switch where farmers loaded their cotton bales onto trains headed out of the Delta. Although it hasn’t been used in years, it remains a potent symbol of the complex intersections of industry and agriculture, of race and injustice. Collected over the last forty-four years, these images and stories are a reflection on the people and places that have taught McCord the meaning of the word home. It is also a self-exploration into her inherently complicated role in this community as both the photographer and the granddaughter of the farm owner.
This publication is a long-term project, constructed from McCord's analog photographs, family snapshots and ephemera. Including, monochrome photographs, color polaroids, and recipes.

Christer Strömholm

By Christer Strömholm

Publisher : Dewi Lewis Publishing

2024 | 296 pages

Christer Strömholm is recognised as one of the major figures of 20th century European photography. Strömholm captured his surroundings in black‐and‐white images that display his integrity, understated humour and a highly personal aesthetic. With an unmistakable sensitivity to human suffering, based on his personal experience, he took photography in a new direction. Sean O’Hagan, writing in The Guardian, has described him “as the father of Swedish photography both for his abiding influence and for his role as a teacher.”

Can't Smile Without You by Martin Andersen

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