Camera man: race, class, and British masculinity | Essay | Architectural Review
▻https://www.architectural-review.com/essays/reviews/camera-man-race-class-and-british-masculinity/10046627.article
▻https://www.architectural-review.com/pictures/2000x2000fit/0/9/4/3179094_imranperrettathedestructorsfilmstillarchitecturalrevie
A man of colour working as a servant stands poised in a corridor lined with statues, a silver serving platter in hand. These are private spaces of power, and seemingly filled with conversations about how to hold on to that power, albeit rendered deliberately absurd and satirical by the verse printed beneath: ‘Men are interested / in Power. / Women are interested / in Service’. Taken during both the early years of prime minister Margaret Thatcher’s tenure (1979-90) and the Falklands War (1982), the black and white portraits in Karen Knorr’s photobook Gentlemen (1983) document the Georgian homes of London’s upper class in Belgravia, transcribing overheard comments and snatches of conversation into mock Romantic poetry which is presented alongside the images in the book.