Dennis Morris in conversation
with Andrew Sanigar
Friday May 23rd - 7:30
The Art House, 30-36 Pritchards Road, E2 9AP
Following the recent publication of his retrospective monograph Dennis Morris: Music + Life, and in advance of the eponymous exhibition opening at The Photographers’ Gallery next month, Dennis Morris and Andrew Sanigar discuss Dennis’s emergence as a photographer in Dalston in the 1970s, his explorations of race and cultural identity in 1970s Britain, his time touring with Bob Marley and The Sex Pistols, and his flourishing career as a music photographer and creative director across more than five decades. The talk will be followed by a book signing.
ALL IMAGES: © Dennis Morris
DENNIS MORRIS
When we think of the trailblazing photographer Dennis Morris’s work, music is right there. Morris’s adventures in the 1970s reggae and punk scene laid the groundwork for a six-decade career.
It all began with Bob Marley: Morris doorstepped Marley in his early teens while skipping school and went on to capture much of Marley’s tour, which launched his career as a music photographer. He later became the official photographer for the Sex Pistols, and for John Lydon’s next project, Public Image Limited, Morris was art director and designer as well as taking iconic images for the band. He captured the greats of reggae and roots music, from Lee 'Scratch' Perry to Toots and Jimmy Cliff, forming friendships with many of the acts.
Morris's documentary and street photography work, with roots in his experiences as a Black teenager in 1970s Britain, bring us visionary projects that explore race, politics and cultural identity. From the miner's strike to squat protests, from civil rights organizations to pop-up studio portraits, his work was a reckoning with his new home, capturing eccentricity and individual spirits with his camera
ANDREW SANIGAR
Andrew Sanigar is Editorial Director for Photography at Thames & Hudson, where his role is to develop and commission T&H’s programme of photography publications, including both retrospective, project-based and contemporary monographs alongside anthologies and surveys of histories and themes in photography. Recent monographs Andrew has commissioned include retrospectives such as The Unseen Saul Leiter, Anastasia Samoylova: Adaptation, William Klein: Yes, Chris Killip and Mona Kuhn: Works, project-based monographs, including Matt Black’s American Geography and a first retrospective of the work of Evgenia Arbugaeva titled Hyperborea.
Anthologies and surveys feature prominently in T&H’s publishing programme, including Calling The Shots: A Queer History of Photography, published in collaboration with The Victoria & Albert Museum, an introduction to African Photography and Cinema titled The African Gaze by Amy Sall, Black Chronicles, authored by Renée Mussai and published in collaboration with Autograph, along with titles such as Magnum America, David Campany: On Photographs and Another Country: British Documentary Since 1945.
Highlights for 2025 and beyond in Thames & Hudson’s photography programme include Dennis Morris: Music + Life, a provocative book on AI in photography by Fred Richin titled The Synthetic Eye and a retrospective on Polish artist Zofia Kulik.
