Photography in a period of transition: London’s creative community captured down the decades in David Gwinnutt’s Portraits Trouvés

IMG_4252 - Version 2 — //Siouxsie Sioux, 42 Arlington Square, N1, 1982. © David Gwinnutt//

//”This was taken in hospital when she had the brain tumour but oddly seems to reflect the end of that heroin chic period.” The late photographer Corinne Day, Whitechapel Hospital, east London, 1996. © David Gwinnutt//

Timberlina_edited-4 — //Timberlina, east London 2009. © David Gwinnutt//

Photographer David Gwinnutt’s new show Portraits Trouvés at north London estate agency Currell provides documentation of the drastic transformation of our city through portraiture of some of the leading lights in arts and culture from the 80s to the 10s.

//”This is an interesting image, showing the now-famous curator years before Sensation at a show of John Maybury’s queer paintings at avant garde gallery B2, which had just become the first UK space to show Robert Mapplethorpe.” Norman Rosenthal, Wapping, 1980. © David Gwinnutt//

//Trojan, Farrell House, E1, 1983. © David Gwinnutt//

Scan 10 — //Leigh Bowery in fur coat, Farrell House, E1, 1983. © David Gwinnutt//

“Looking back I see is there is an obvious gay/queer slant and documentation to them,” says Gwinnutt. ‘The black and white 80s photos seem indicative of that Thatcher’s Britain period when AIDS was coming and we queers were still in the shadows.

“The colour ones seem to reflect the reflect the changes and transitioning of certain areas, particularly the East End.”

Derek Jarman — //Andrew Logan in his studio, New Year’s Eve, 1979/80. © David Gwinnutt//

Gilbert & George 2 — //Gilbert & George. Fournier St. E1, c. 1983. © David Gwinnutt//

Grayson Perry-Michael Clark — //Grayson Perry and Michael Clark. The Heil Mary Club, c. 1984. © David Gwinnutt//

The exhibition title takes its cue from Gwinnutt’s approach. Rather than posing his subjects, Gwinnutt appears to “find” his sitters in surroundings which are personal to them. The resultant images convey a high degree of intimacy.