The Days Before Selfies

Catz alumnus Fred Jarvis (1949, PPE) recently staged his final, and biggest, photography exhibition, entitled ‘In the Days Before Selfies’. Hosted at Congress House in London, the headquarters of the Trades Union Congress, the exhibition took place over two weeks in January and February this year and was a retrospective of a life’s work in photographs – with photos spanning 70 years of news, events, politics, theatre and music.

Featuring images from across Jarvis’s vast and varied portfolio, including photos of post-war Germany, Soviet Moscow, and figures of modern politics, it was a diverse and interesting exhibition. Opening with an auction overseen by film producer David Puttnam, the exhibition was staged in aid of three charities – the National Youth Theatre, Music for Youth, and the North London Hospice – for whom it raised over £3000 in donations and bids for images.

Of his aims for the exhibition, and the companion brochure Before Selfies that accompanied it, Jarvis explained: “I hope most of us, including the keen ‘selfie’ takers, will come to see that there is so much in our own neighbourhoods and communities, and in lands far away, that can offer many opportunities for the engagement and satisfaction that photography can stimulate.”

(Header photo: Fred Jarvis)