“In 1978, prompted by my interest in people’s attitude to photography, from beyond the primitive notion of your soul being stolen when you have your photograph taken, to whatever was the contemporary notion, I mailed an image of myself to the 84 people who at that time shared my surname in the London Phone Directory, hoping that having this in common would serve as an introduction. I asked for a photograph in return, with their name on the back so that I would know who was responding, and a very large percentage complied, but most were also accompanied by incidental information. There were exceptions; a letter saying that there were no photographs in existence of Doris Jewell, an octogenarian living in Barnes, but I was welcome to go and take one.
This outcome led to me producing ‘London Jewells’, a poster size, four-colour lithographic letter containing a montage of all the photographs received and a précis of the written response. I mailed this poster out to my original list, but omitting the names that the Royal Mail had returned to sender as ‘’unknown at this address’’. This secondary mail out solicited a mixed response, photographs and “wish I’d taken your original letter more seriously” from some of those who had not initially responded and “thanks” from those that had.
I then repeated the process but this time with a similar number of Jewells in the USA, utilising the Los Angeles and Miami phone directories. The response was markedly different, not in volume but by the amount of lithographically produced photographs in the form of Christmas and model agency cards etc., and also far more information on lineage with family trees going back to Bishop Jewell of Salisbury in the 16th Century.
I then framed and exhibited all this material at the 1983 Summer Show at the Serpentine Gallery in London.
In 2009 a publisher enquired of me if I had any plans for another book. I was considering returning to the ‘Jewell’ concept but this time making contact via the internet rather than the postal service; with the development of the world wide web and digital photography, our personal attitudes to portraiture had moved on, the days of Doris Jewell living a long life without a single image of her existence seemed a thing of the past. However, instead I initially ran a Google search of ‘Jewell’ for images, this subsequently also led me to video and audio material baring my surname. The items collated in alphabetical order became Jewell, a Film By Dick Jewell April-August 2010 (133mins), rather than a book it imitates the aspect of multitasking on a computer screen.
My iPhone flower portraits alongside the vitrines, seemed fitting, not only as a traditional subject for wallpaper but in our focus on genealogy when considering the juxtaposition of similar sized subject matter.”
Dick Jewell, 2019.
Location: Lecture Theatre 2, Newton Building, NTU City Campus
Nottingham Trent University is delighted to invite Dick Jewell to speak as part of the 2019 Fine Art Live Lecture Series.
Working across film, photography and photo-collage, Jewell has inhabited both gallery and commercial contexts, exhibiting his work internationally at institutions including the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam) and Serpentine Gallery (London), as well as producing music videos and promos for musicians including Neneh Cherry and Massive Attack
Growing up in Croydon Jewell spent much of his youth “lugging around an Olympus OM-1 Motor Drive, taking portraits of strangers at any opportunity” going on to publishing his first book Found Photos in 1978, the same year he completed his MA in Printmaking at the Royal College of Art.
In anticipation of Jewell’s most significant solo show Now & Then (opening January), take a read of this article on his career as an artist/filmmmaker by Dazed & Confused.
Thanks to all who joined us for the preview yesterday – what a brilliant way to start off 2019!
Below are a few highlights from the event, featuring some selfies taken in front of Dick Jewell’s epic photo collage, War & Peace. When you visit, be sure to take your own selfie and share it on instagram with the hashtag #djwarandpeace. One lucky winner (selected by Dick) will get a signed copy of Dick’s book, 4000 Threads!
Dick Jewell: Now & Then is now open until Saturday 23 February.
Dick will also be speaking as part of NTU’s Fine Art Live lecture series on Thursday 31 January.
Now & Then will be Dick Jewell’s most significant solo exhibition in recent years, bringing together a wide range of works produced over a 30-year period. Working across film, photography and photo-collage, Jewell has inhabited both gallery and commercial contexts, exhibiting his work internationally at institutions including the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam) and Serpentine Gallery (London). He has also produced music videos and promos for musicians including Neneh Cherry and Massive Attack.
As the title suggests, Now & Then chronicles progression: both from a technological perspective through the shifting media across Jewell’s work, and also in regards to people, as demonstrated by Jewell re-visiting his seminal 1989 film Headcases (shot on Super 8) whereby he has repeated the same set of questions to the same subjects 30 years on.
Other key works that will be on display include The Box, a huge bank of 200 framed photographs that Jewell took from four TVs over seven days in 1980; Four Thousand Threads, which presents a ‘Chinese Whispers’ version of a Google image search; and an audience participatory work entitled War & Peace, in which visitors are encouraged to take selfies against a backdrop and disseminate them online.
In a world bombarding us with millions of images, Now & Then is just presenting a few thousand.
Fine Art Live Lecture Present: Dick Jewell
Thursday 31 January, 5.15 pm – 7.30 pm
Lecture Theatre 2, Newton building, NTU City Campus
Bonington Film Night #9: Dick Jewell Kinky Gerlinky
Thursday 20 February, 7 pm – 8.30 pm
Bonington Gallery, Bonington building, NTU City Campus
Bonington Vitrines #10: Jewell
Friday 18 January – Saturday 23 February
Bonington Foyer
We’re delighted to start 2019 with a solo exhibition by photographer and filmmaker Dick Jewell.
Now & Then will be Jewell’s most significant solo show in recent years, bringing together a wide range of works produced over a 30-year period – spanning film, photography and photo-collage. In the meantime, check out this documentary commissioned by Dazed & Confused (directed by Jamie Roberts), which explores Jewell’s incredible archive of dance footage, with a cast including Vivienne Westwood, Neneh Cherry, Grandmaster Flash, skinheads, B-boys, drag queens and rave dancers – to name just a few…
Dick Jewell: Now & Then opens Friday 18 January. RSVP to join us for the preview on Thursday 17 January, 5 pm – 7 pm.