Don McCullin
Festival of Ideas
Friday 14 September 2018 4 - 5pm
The Benjamin West Lecture Theatre, Burlington Gardens, Royal Academy of Arts
£16, £10 concessions
Photographer Don McCullin talks about how his experiences of war photography have shaped his landscapes and still-lifes.
With a career spanning over 50 years, Don McCullin is best known for his arresting images of war, with his photography spanning continents. McCullin recently returned from Syria where he made a documentary about the destruction of Palmyra with Dan Cruickshank. Over the last ten years McCullin has focused his lens closer to home, on the landscapes that surround his house in Somerset. At this event he talks about the complex relationship between the two very different sides of his photographic career with broadcaster and journalist, Alex Clark.
McCullin worked for the Sunday Times for 18 years and covered every major conflict in his adult lifetime until the Falklands War. The finest photojournalist of his generation, he has received many honours including a CBE. He received a knighthood in the 2017 New Year Honours List.
This event will be followed by a Q&A.
Book signing following the event
Don McCullin will be signing books in the Burlington Gardens Wohl Entrance Hall, outside Pace Gallery, from 5–5.45pm on the day of the event, Friday 14 September. Free, no need to book.
30 seconds with Don McCullin
What's the best thing you've seen this year?
The Charles I exhibition (it's an RA show but that’s coincidental).
Who has inspired you?
The following, for the spiritual energy lighting and composition: Stieglitz, Francis Frith, Peter H. Emerson and Alvin Langdon Coburn.
What advice would you give someone starting out in your field?
Don't follow the war route; train the lens on social struggles in your cities. It's important to keep your eyes open and have a liberal mindset (not politically speaking), to listen to music, read, travel and show humanity. All this aids the creative spirit.
DJ performance: Rachael Plays Disco
Free
Every Friday and Saturday evening throughout our Festival of Ideas we’ve invited some of our favourite DJs to takeover the Royal Academy, performing eclectic sets of dance, house, disco and electronica in Burlington Gardens' Wohl Entrance Hall.
Resident DJ at Rye Wax in Peckham – and lover of Italo and Eurodisco – Rachael Plays Disco is a regular at London club nights, performing an exciting mix of disco, funk and soul.