Another Eye: Women Refugee Photographers

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In the 1930s, more than 70,000 people sought refuge in Britain from Nazi-dominated Europe. Among them were a group of women photographers, now brought together in a new exhibition

When Adolf Hitler came into power in 1933, around 70,000 Jewish refugees fled German-occupied Europe and settled in the UK. Among them was a group of women photographers, who brought fresh, modernist perspectives, which opened up British photography in the decades that followed.

This Women’s History Month, Four Corners Gallery, London presents a new exhibition that brings together their work for the first time in Britain. Included in the show are pieces by established photographers Dorothy Bohm, Gerti Deutsch, Elsbeth Juda, Lotte Meitner-Graf, Lucia Moholy, Gerty Simon and Edith Tudor-Hart. The gallery will also present work by lesser-known practitioners, including Erika Koch and Lore Lisbeth Waller [below].

Faced with the traumas of exile, these photographers overcame personal struggles to build new lives in Britain. Many re-established their studios, producing portraits of prominent cultural figures, and some became photojournalists, publishing their work for magazines like Picture Post and LilliputAnother Eye explores how the unique experiences of these women photographers played a significant role in representing post-war Britain and is accompanied by a series of talks, as well as events that explore work by women photographers from migrant and displaced backgrounds.

Another Eye: Women Refugee Photographers in Britain after 1933 will be on show at Four Corners Gallery in London from 28 February until 01 May 2020.

Marigold Warner

Deputy Editor

Marigold Warner worked as an editor at BJP between 2018 and 2023. She studied English Literature and History of Art at the University of Leeds, followed by an MA in Magazine Journalism from City, University of London. Her work has been published by titles including the Telegraph Magazine, Huck, Elephant, Gal-dem, The Face, Disegno, and the Architects Journal.