The Fringes of Society from America to India, Chile to Nigeria

Sister Akane, at home, laughing. Ikebukuro, Honcho, 1977. From the series Flash Up, 1975 -1979. © Seiji Kurata. Collection of Mark Pearson, Zen Foto Gallery

Pista de Baile de la discoteca "Eduardo's" (Dance floor of the discotheque "Eduardo's"), 2016. © Teresa Margolles. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich, Switzerland

Untitled, 1982, From the series Rebel’s Paris, 1982 © Philippe Chancel. Courtesy of Melanie Rio Fluency, France

Medicine is Art, from the series Japan Photo Theater. © Daido Moriyama. Michael Hoppen Gallery, London, UK. Courtesy of Daido Moriyama Photo Foundation

Anonymous, Modesto, CA, 2010. From the series The Ninety Nine © Katy Grannan, courtesy the artist and Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco

Even though there's no sign of any customers.... near Ikebukuro, Hikarimachi Ohashi, 1975. From the series Flash Up, 1975 -1979. © Seiji Kurata. Collection of Mark Pearson, Zen Foto Gallery

Evelyn, Santiago. From the series La Manzana de Adán (Adam’s Apple), 1983 © Paz Errázuriz / Courtesy of the artist

Another Kind of Life: Photography on the Margins, an exhibition at Barbican Art Gallery, looks at artists capturing those on the margins of society through the photographic medium. Many powerful images made in the 20th and 21st century “are the result of a determined and often prolonged engagement with communities seemingly at odds with, or on the fringes of, the mainstream,” states Barbican in the press release. Another Kind of Life explores photography’s relationship with this compelling subject through the work of 20 image-makers. “The exhibition directly – and at times poetically – addresses difficult questions about what it means to exist in the margins, the role artists have played in portraying subcultures and the complex intermingling between artistic and mainstream depictions of the outsider.”

Reflecting a diverse and complex view of the world, the show touches on themes of gender and sexuality, countercultures, subcultures and minorities of all kinds. Bringing together over 300 works from the 1950s to the present, Another Kind of Life includes vintage and contemporary prints, archival material, specialist magazines, rare film and photo books. By recording and documenting those on the edges the images in Another Kind of Life bear witness to changing social attitudes and chart the ways visual representation has helped shape current discourse in relation to alternative communities.

Photographers in the exhibition include:
Diane Arbus, Casa Susanna, Philippe Chancel, Larry Clark, Bruce Davidson, Mary Ellen Mark, Paz Errázuriz, Jim Goldberg, Katy Grannan, Pieter Hugo, Seiji Kurata, Danny Lyon, Teresa Margolles, Boris Mikhailov, Daido Moriyama, Igor Palmin, Walter Pfeiffer, Dayanita Singh Alec Soth and Chris Steele-Perkins.

Another Kind of Life: Photography on the Margins
Barbican Art Gallery
through May 27, 2018