I'm thrilled to be part of this forthcoming exhibition celebrating Black History Month, hosted by Beatport at Farsight Gallery, London. The exhibition pays tribute to the cultural legacy of four groundbreaking electronic music genres of Black origin: House, Techno, Jungle, and UK Garage.
As one of the featured photographers, alongside legends Normski, Eddie Otchere and Dave Swindells, I’ll be showing some images that represent the moment when these genres collided to create dubstep.
Join us for the launch event on October 15th, where Josh Caffé, Ama and Mr. Redley will provide insights into their musical journeys. The evening will close with a DJ set by Ama.
This year is a special one for me with several anniversaries, including 20 years of my Drumz Of The South project and 5 years of GD4YA.
GD4YA, the record label founded by Sam Levo, is dedicated to releasing the authentic sounds of South London via artists like Benny Ill, Karma, Yaw Evans and El-B. The label draws inspiration from the rich musical heritage of the area, particularly the dark garage and early dubstep scenes that emerged from places like Streatham and Croydon.
My contribution to Turf Project's Eye Level programme included a Drumz of the South slideshow and audio description, voiced by Breezy Lee and produced by Jay Strange. I also designed a wall map of connections, inspired by the maps I drew during my peak years documenting the early dubstep scene and its community. Additionally, I led a counter-culture mapping workshop for MOSS, Turf's group of learning disabled artists, and a workshop for Croydon’s Young Archivists.
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Such a pleasure to experience and photograph the absolute joy that is Alabaster dePlume aka Gus Fairbairn in a little pub in the town I live in. Alabaster’s music is uplifting, funny, spiritual and healing, yet not at all devoid of edge. Songs like Be Nice To people and Don’t Forget You’re Precious, are like mini manifestos. It’s kinda like the 60’s hippy scene mashed up with punk and jazz. It’s stunning. Apparently he mixes up the musicians that he plays with, which I think leads to a freshness and newness among all of the players on stage - like they’re all just experiencing Alabaster dePlume for the first time too. I liked the way he acknowledged that the crowd make the experience as much as he and the musicians do. It certainly felt like the whole room was in it together. Thanks for the after-gig portrait Gus.
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A few of my favourite photos from Boiler Room at Three Mills Island last Saturday.
A return to collective joy with camera...the music was amazing and the vibes were nice and warm.
For over a year I’ve been working on The Vision of Sound, a podcast on the intersection of art & music. It’s been an absolute pleasure chatting to creative people that make work about or inspired by music, and I’ve learnt so much!
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I just LOVE LOVE LOVE seeing my photography transformed into the record labels for GD4YA’s releases! Putting them together like this, you can really see what the art direction is all about! The photos are fairly close to those seen in my original Drumz of the South series which wasn’t just about dance-floors & DJs but the environment & the streets I walked around or that the music came from.
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A couple of weeks back I had the pleasure of capturing some event photography for Boiler Room x Ballantine’s True Music In The Round. This was the first proper socially distanced live music event that I’ve documented since the pandemic so it felt really exciting to be in among the action again.
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In August I launched Vision of Sound, a fortnightly podcast series in which I chat to other artists and creative people that make work about or inspired by music.
Guests include Jeremy Deller, Wumzum & George Nindi, Emma Warren and Lil Ye’s Ali Graham.
You might notice that while I am a music photographer, there are no music photographer’s mentioned, but do keep an eye on the next episode as they are on their way!
It had been a while since I had a consistent medium to channel my love for and interest in other artists and creative people- whom I’ve championed in various ways throughout my life via zines, or blogs or events. As a fan of podcasts and radio shows like Stance, Creative Rebels, London Scenery and George The Poet, audio seemed like the obvious way to do it.
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It’s great to back (safely) documenting & photographing people and projects again, following peak lock-down.
Last week I went safely to Bristol (truly one of my favourite city’s) with two of my favourite people & long time collaborators- singer-performer-writer Breezy Lee & poet-MC Sgt.Pokes, plus the multi-talented Alex Rigg of Ocean All Over.
Here’s the video from my conversation with Lisa Der Weduwe at Youth Club Archive about my photography, blogging + ‘00s technology & social / digital media, diy & grassroots community & much more.
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Here’s a gallery of books that I’ve read, am reading or hope to read that are about or related to music that I’ve photographed or been involved with. I haven’t included Photography or image based books as I’m working on another project with which has music photography at its heart. Hold tight the visual people.
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Join me and Lisa Der Weduwe of Youth Club Archive on Insta Live next Tuesday where we’ll be discussing my music photography and what the world and it’s technologies looked like back in the early 00’s when I was documenting DnB, Dubstep and Grime.
@drumzofthesouth 6-7pm June 1st
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Photos from the 2nd SOUTH CIRCULAR at LIGHTBOX, MARCH 2020 by Georgina Cook
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Happy Birthday to DMZ’s All-nighter which began 15 years ago on a Saturday in the basement of a church in Brixton. Here are 6 pictures from the event, featuring Skream, Kode9, Bandit, Scientist, Plastician, Mala, The Nameless Dread, Chef and the Stamina Gang. x
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Remembering Andrew Weatherall
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GIF of Skepta, unknown MC and Hatcha at FWD>> at Plastic People, 2005, by Georgina Cook. From my Drumz Of The South archive.
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A night with Steam Down
Thanks again to the Steam Down crew for giving me their blessing to document the night which was not only the release of their brilliant single Free My Skin, but also the first time keys player Dominic performed his own music under the name Doom Cannon.
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