Anna Fox: Resort – Pallant House Gallery

Anna Fox Arcade, Butlins, 2010

Pallant House Gallery in Chichester, West Sussex, presents a new series of specially-commissionedphotographs by leading British documentary photographer Anna Fox recording the modern face of Butlins holiday resorts.

RESORT is the result of two years spent photographing life at Butlin’s, Bognor Regis in West Sussex – one of only three remaining resorts in the UK. Anna Fox has captured the British at leisure, providing a vital and highly charged insight into the contemporary Butlins holiday experience.

The series marks the 75th anniversary of Butlins: a British institution and established cultural phenomenon, with a very particular character, history and identity. Having attracted tens of millions of holidaymakers since its creation in 1936, Butlins’ popularity peaked in the 1970s, but, today it remains a thriving centre for family holidays and themed leisure breaks.

Anna Fox Bar, Summer 2010

The Butlins experience has always been rooted in a sense of community, extending the bonds of family and friends to embrace shared social activities that are truly democratic and accessible to all. These values and aspirations are still pertinent today and the series recognises Butlins’ prominent place in the national imagination.

Informed by John Hinde’s celebrated colour photographs of Butlins holiday camps from the 1970s which were highly choreographed records of the ritualised activities in the camps, Fox’s large-format colour photographs provide a fascinating insight into the family activities for which Butlins is celebrated.

Anna Fox: Small Water Play

The series has been commissioned by Pallant House Gallery and has been supported by a National Photography Museum Award and Butlins.

Anna Fox has been working in photography for the past 25 years. Professor in Photography at University for the Creative Arts, her work has concentrated predominantly on documenting life in the South of England and has been both published and exhibited worldwide. Her work is included in a number of significant public collections and has been included is major group exhibitions such as: Through the Looking Glass, Barbican 1989; From Tarzan to Rambo, Tate Modern 2003; How We Are: Photographing Britain, Tate Britain 2007.

Anna Fox: Fairy Make up Butlin's 2010

Anna Fox has received numerous awards and commissions to develop her practice. In her work she seeks to challenge conventions in documentary photography and reveal aspects of the everyday that are frequently neglected. Her work has been reviewed and commented on regularly since 1986 and more recently included in several survey books of contemporary photography/art including The Self Portrait in Contemporary Art, T&H 2009 and a new book of Essays on Photography published by Aperture NY. She is represented by the James Hyman Gallery in London and Tasveer Atys in Bangalore.

A full-colour book, published by Photoworks, which will feature contextual essays by Dr Roni Brown and other contributors placing Anna Fox’s new photographs in the context of the history of Butlins and British leisure is due for publication in 2011.

Exhibition Dates:

25 June – 2 October 2011

Pallant House Gallery

9 North Pallant

Chichester

West Sussex

PO19 1TJ

United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)1243 774557

info@pallant.org.uk