Anthony Luvera is an Australian artist, writer and educator based in London. Anthony Luvera is interested in exploring some of the problems of documentary photography and photographic representations of social issues. Since 2001 he has worked on a series of long-term photographic projects with people who have experienced homelessness living in London. Through these projects, and the social relationships upon which they are based, Luvera explores the tension between authorship (and artistic control), and the ethics involved in making photographs about other people’s lives.
Residency
For sample photos see Luvera’s website
Residency features a series of photographs produced by the artist and individuals experiencing homelessness in Belfast, over a 16month period between 2006 and 2008. The series consists of large-format ‘Assisted Self-Portraits’, landscape images of Belfast and documentation of the working process through photographs and production Polaroids.
‘Anthony Luvera updates, remakes and agitates ideas of what is considered to be self portraiture. He shifts the inherent power balances inherit in portrait photography and shows that collaboration can create a much more empathetic approach to the act of photographing people. If that wasn’t enough he has also been able to build an archive of cities though the eyes of people who have difficulty fitting in. This project is a reminder that photography can still hold magical powers that empower and educate when in the right hands.‘
Residency also features an introductory text by the artist and essays by Anthony Downey and Colin Graham. Anthony Luvera describes his experience of working in Belfast and outlines some of the critical considerations underpinning his practice. Colin Graham reflects on the relationship between identity and attachment to place in post-conflict Northern Ireland. Anthony Downey examines the politics of the project, focusing on questions of ethics and representation.
Other projects
His photographic work has been exhibited widely in galleries, public spaces and festivals including the British Museum, London Underground’s Art on the Underground, National Portrait Gallery London, Belfast Exposed Photography, Australian Centre for Photography, Fotofreo and Les Rencontres D’Arles Photographie.
His writing appears regularly in a wide range of periodicals and peer-reviewed journals including Source, photographies and Hot Shoe International.
Luvera lectures on under-graduate and post-graduate degree courses in the photography, visual art and social sciences faculties for a number of institutions, including University of the Arts London Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London College of Communication, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, University for the Creative Arts Farnham and University College Falmouth.
He also facilitates workshops and gives lectures for the public education programmes of the National Portrait Gallery, the Photographers’ Gallery London and various community photography projects across the UK.