Women: New Portraits

“Annie Leibovitz captures women in all our human variety and idiosyncrasy, simplicity and artifice, bravery and fear, creativity of mind as well as womb; in other words, in all our humanity. No notion as limited as gender can account for all the truths in this exhibit.” – Gloria Steinem

There aren’t many people that could get me to brave this week’s baltic temperatures but when I heard that Annie Leibovitz – one of the world’s greatest portrait photographers – would be showcasing her work at Wapping Hydraulic Power Station, I knew I had to go. After a tube, two trains and a generous dose of January’s bitterly icy breeze, I arrived at the extraordinary venue and as I suspected, the trek was more than worth it.

With a career spanning over four decades, Annie Leibovitz started out as a photojournalist for Rolling Stone magazine in 1970. Since then her unmistakable talent has been a staple at Vanity Fair and Vogue – inspiring some of the most iconic portrait photography in recent popular culture. 

For most the name Annie Leibovitz won’t mean much, but I guarantee that you would recognise and no doubt admire at least one portrait from her staggering back catalogue. She’s photographed everyone from Taylor Swift to Queen Elizabeth and the new exhibition, Women: New Portraits, is a continuation of a project that she started over 15 years ago. Fascinated by women, Annie’s work documents their evolution, featuring portraits of some of the most noted and powerful women in our society.   

The painfully cool backdrop of Wapping Power Station provided the perfect canvas for the exhibition. As well as a makeshift wall featuring some of Annie’s most prominent portraits, the vast space homed three giant installation screens playing out a video diary of the world’s most prominent women. New Portraits celebrates women regardless of career, colour or creed. Philanthropists and musicians are depicted alongside CEOs and artists; each one individual yet inextricably entwined through womanhood.

It’s no accident that the career of Annie Leibovitz has, and continues to be, such a driving force in popular culture. Despite the sheer diversity of her subjects it is somehow so simple to distinguish a Leibovitz portrait. A talent held by so few, each and every one of Annie’s photographs depicts a raw and unabashed realness, as through her eyes you see into the very souls of these women.

Seeing Annie Leibovitz’s body of work in one space is a powerful experience and one that I would certainly recommend, her ability to capture the essence of a person in a single frame is, in my eyes, unparalleled.

*Women: New Portraits will feature at Wapping Hydraulic Power Station until February 7, 2016. Entry is free.