The New Yorker giving it slightly straighter than usual
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Tom Seymour
@TomSeymour
Why, but there's many a man hath more hair than wit. Museums Editor . Associate Lecturer . Rep’d . All views own.
Tom Seymour’s Tweets
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Here’s the link, btw - and with a stunner of a pic by Antoine d’Agata too: The Coronavirus Is Rewriting Our Imaginations newyorker.com/culture/annals
Cannot begin to express how much respect I have for Mick Lynch
Raab's argument here, so far as he has one, is Pincher was found to have done what he was accused of doing, but wasn't 'guilty' of doing it - because BoJo and co decided to let him off Scott free 🤷♂️
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The car crash interview of the year as Justice Secretary Dominic Raab shamelessly defends the indefensible
Superb from @susannareid100 @GMB
Some personal news, as the kids say.
I've been appointed as an Associate Editor for , working out of the New York office.
I will be commissioning stories - looking for tips, exclusives and off-diary news across art.
Email t.seymour@theartnewspaper.com
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Horrendous news. Ren Hang, one of leading lights of a new wave of Chinese photographers, has died aged 29. Fought censorship all his life.
If a Western photojournalist employs a fixer in a war zone, that fixer should be afforded the same employer rights; same insurance, same security, same bylines. Money isn't enough. It's an antiquated practice that has its roots in colonial attitudes.
My paean to Tish Murtha, the Newcastle artist who was ignored by London but made some of the best photography of her generation. Quotes from , David Hurn and Simon Bainbridge . A film about Tish's life will open in June.
Vulnerable people are going to die in this heat; a coordinated and responsive government would enact simple measures to help save the lives of the disabled, the aged, the ill.
Instead we’ve got a lame duck PM pretending to be Tom Cruise. Insult to the end. Get him out.
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Could a lobby journalist please pluck up the courage to ask how much this grandstanding cost the taxpayer?
A well-connected friend with high-up contacts is telling me Truss has gone...
EXCLUSIVE - Martin Parr apologises unreservedly, steps down as Artistic Director of after anti-racist student campaign by My report at theartnewspaper.com/news/martin-pa
Delighted to be joining , part of , as an Associate Lecturer in Photography. The college is a really central part of Elephant and Castle, where I’ve lived for almost a decade. I’m excited. Will give it my best.
Personal news. From May onwards, I'm taking over from the excellent as Museums & Heritage Editor - big shoes to fill. Hoping to work with new writers (I'll devise a pitching doc) and looking for relevant pitches. Email: t.seymour@theartnewspaper.com
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I can’t stress the risks a journalist takes to publish a story like this, about the head of a firm that has almost unlimited resources. Adjaye’s lawyers will pick through every word of this, looking for seams. It takes bravery and a huge skillset. Respect
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For the past year, @AnjliRaval and I have been investigating allegations of serious sexual and emotional abuse against the globally renowned architect David Adjaye. Today the @FT publishes our 4,000-word article on what we found on.ft.com/3pGMQOdReplying to
For Sheffield: The Fat Cat (although some would argue the Kelham Island Tavern, which is next door)
I officially begin as the Museums and Heritage Editor of next week and I am looking for story ideas for the June issue of the newspaper. My email is t.seymour@theartnewspaper.com - please send through bespoke ideas on the museum sector. Competitive rates.
Very pleased to announce I'm joining as a Senior Writer from Monday, reporting across photography, film, design and commercial creativity. I'm working three days a week, and will also continue to write for my freelance clients. Any ideas, send them my way.
By my guess 15 people sleeping rough outside John Lewis on Oxford Street tonight. Never seen that before. The Truss saga is this fun, macabre spectacle; but this is the real Tory legacy - 12 years of a government that just doesn’t care about the chances of very vulnerable people.
BREAKING: have announced an "in-depth internal review" into their archive after and others unearthed troubling imagery, freely available to view and buy. The review will include "outside guidance" - the parameters of which are not yet clear.
Breaking: David Alan Harvey suspended from pending investigation. Agency said “A specific allegation has been made in confidence over past few days relating to the personal conduct of David Alan Harvey. Such behaviour would represent a breach of the code of conduct”
My friend is in Antakya, Turkey, right now, photographing the human cost of the earthquake. If any photo editors follow me, please follow her and consider running her images.
It’s revealing that the Tory government and right wing press insist on referring to them as the Elgin Marbles, rather than the Parthenon Marbles. It implies the marbles belong to Elgin, but they don’t. Elgin took them from the Parthenon. Don’t follow suit.
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August Sander's descendent Julian made historic People of the Twentieth Century available to buy on the blockchain. But did he have copyright? German courts will now decide, in what will prove a landmark case for NFT photography. My piece
Artists working under oppression rarely gain global recognition. Yet they risk so much more. My first print feature for the best newspaper in the world
The new photography centre demonstrates how seriously the UK’s cultural institutions are now taking the medium of photography - a very welcome thing, imo
My tribute to Chris Killip, the landmark British photographer who has died at age 74 after a career spent documenting the decline of the industrial north, live . Thanks to @tracymarshallE and for their thoughts. theartnewspaper.com/news/british-p
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My wife saw this and came home wide-eyed in awe...
Haven’t seen the leader’s Question Time tonight, but the consensus seems to be - don’t fuck with Sheffield
Great this from , ’s Mick Lynch and - key point; the Tories thought, as usual, they could isolate and demonise the strikers. This time, Lynch and co have connected their fight to a much larger experience, felt country wide.
Thanks to for the great night, really well done, and congrats to everyone shortlisted and awarded - indie publishing more important than ever
Cycled past Vivienne Westwood a few times; she was a dedicated cyclist on the CS7 from Clapham into Soho, rain or shine. She had a yellow bike, always glared at me as I stared and always looked uniquely, burningly fantastic. What a figurehead of everything London stands for. RIP.
Delighted to be on the cover of summer issue, writing about Gordon Parks. Out now, pick it up.
Got engaged to my beautiful girlfriend...and then got a squirrel. Here’s to 2020
My paean to Susan Sontag's On Photography, which is being reissued by with curation by 's . Sontag called the camera a "predatory weapon" - she prophesied many of the photo ethical debates of today more than 30 years ago.
The photographer Alec Soth - @LBMBooks - has been accused by , a Chicago-based documentary photographer, of copying her trademarked photography series for a commission. Legal action may follow. My report theartnewspaper.com/news/magnum-ph
My first piece for - an interview with Don McCullin on the personal costs of ambition, whether photojournalism will survive (no) and whether it's worth joining agencies like (also no). Retrospective now.
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Try saying that to the people you grew up alongside in Fox Hill. Your party’s policies are driving them ever further into poverty. Look them in the eye and tell them this is good for them.
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I Would Die 4 U, Like a Virgin and Common People
Good moment - my first piece for , the best paper in the world, is live here. Fantastic to highlight such brave artists, whom deserve the spotlight. nytimes.com/2019/07/05/art
Victim of David Alan Harvey: "He has done more damage than he or Magnum could ever imagine”. My report for on the decision by to remove the celebrity photographer, who is accused of sustained sexual abuse lasting decades. theartnewspaper.com/news/photograp
Was lying in a hotel room in Lianzhou at 4.30am with jetlag when this came through. Might have to raid the minibar now. Worth mentioning my editor is one of the best in the business. Thanks !
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This year’s PPA Scottish Magazine Awards Writer of the Year – Specialist Magazines is… @TomSeymour #PPASMA19
Update: I've been in touch with Heather Agyepong - - today, who has shared some reflections regarding her experience with me. The story has been updated accordingly - you can read what she has to say here 👇
Americans Seething with Envy of U.K. After Malignant Narcissist Opts Not to Run Again
My well connected friend in the civil service was appalled to find a 'milk lock' in the work fridge. So they have responded in true passive aggressive style - the very best of British 👏
Key point behind my story: if I published an identifiable photo of a British teenager who has survived a sexual attack, I would face prosecution - and rightly so. This standard does not seem to regularly apply to African minors, evidentially. Why is that?
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Was walking past a cage game recently - the ball came sailing over and bounced in front of me. The decision then is whether to try and chip the ball back over the cage wall or pick it up and throw it. I went for the chip and sent it flying into the *other* cage game adjacent 🤮
Very happy to discover I've been nominated as Writer of the Year 2021 at the awards for my work with under the great editorship of . RPS Journal is also up for Consumer Publication and Cover of the Year.
Seeing Life, the new Corbijn biopic of James Dean and photographer Dennis Stock, tomorrow night. Middling festival reviews, but I'm excited.
A tremendously powerful photography series, based on the most simple premise. newyorker.com/culture/photo-
. has done more than any media voice to hold Labour to account on antisemitism. This, I hope, is his final word on it. Everyone in Labour, anyone who questioned how much the problem existed, or feels sympathy for Corbyn, should read it.
Four politicians accepted an invite from Steve McQueen to see Grenfell. at the Serpentine: the former PM Gordon Brown, Kensington MP Felicity Buchan, Michael Gove, the housing secretary, and David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary. No-one else responded. amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/m
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My interview with Kaya Scodalerio - - for is here: http://t.co/yQMuDcGcSn http://t.co/40SjZaVd7u
Woke up today to the news I’m now an uncle. A tiny little baby girl. My little sister is my hero.
Gillian Anderson walked into the gents at Mayfair Curzon during LFF. She asked me if it was the gents. I said yes. She exited.
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had a wee next to Daniel Craig twitter.com/MavenofHonor/s…
For sheer beauty, can any photographer compare with Saul Leiter? I’m unconvinced. Check this of Jean, taken in 1970; the portrait itself is probably 5x5cm. The bokeh here very purposeful. It’s intricate and sublime.
My job has taken me to a refugee camp in Medyka, on the Polish border with Ukraine. Here’s an artwork in a tent full of donated toys for displaced Ukrainian children (taken with permission) - very moving to see young mothers playing with toddlers here
After more than 200 years in the British Museum, the 2,500-year-old Parthenon Marbles may soon be permanently returned to their home in Athens; months of secret negotiations between George Osborne and the Greek gov have got us here, now at "advanced stage"
I went to see #Dreamworks, a new art installation housed in an unused market in Woolwich. It's a collaboration between techno composer John Hopkins, Turner Prize winning collective Assemble and (!!) some of UK's leading neuroscientists. And it is an incredible, moving experience.
Martin Parr no platformed. Gian Butturini cancelled. What do this week’s events say about how we handle historical photos, and how we regard elites? My report: theartnewspaper.com/news/martin-pa My thanks to Brad of and Damion Berger for quotes.
Just got off the phone with Steve McQueen. Difficult to think of many better living artists. What a privilege to be able to speak with him.
My first piece for on Robert Mapplethorpe’s early polaroids, shown first time at San Fran
I'm unaware of Magnum having ever publicly pledged to review their entire archive in the history of the organisation. This is a huge commitment, and has the capacity to reverberate throughout ethical conversations around documentary photography for a long time.
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We would like to share with our community a statement from our President Olivia Arthur and CEO Caitlin Hughes regarding the Magnum Archive internal review: bit.ly/3iJv1oS
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Next is Writer of the Year which has been won by… @TomSeymour at @The_RPS! #PPASA21
Heard myself say “come on Vince, Daddy wants some sparking rose’ whilst in Elephant Park earlier. Time for some self reflection.
The UK's influential Museums Association - - has called for a new "pay settlement" for museum workers seeing their take home pay decrease "at the fastest rate for decades". Inflation now at 9.4% and not slowing. My report
Big day in Prague. For the first time in 50 years, the definition of a museum has significantly changed after an unanimous vote . But some big, important terms still aren’t recognised - too much of a compromise? My report
Really shaken up after witnessing a cyclist caught under a bus on Kennington Park Road this morning after apparently colliding with a truck. Looked in a fight for his life. No good reason why there isn't a cycle path there, like the tour de france every morning
Timeline from tomorrow: Boris to sneak over with 101 MP votes. Sunak eases through with 200+. Tory members then back Boris 52:48.
Brady lets Boris back in. MPs freak out. Some resign or switch to Labour. Privileges committee then savages Boris for lying. He refuses to resign.
I have just locked my pages for the June issue of The Art Newspaper - first issue as Museums Editor. I am going to the pub. Thanks to everyone I've worked with on the section - I'll do a 🧵 tomorrow
Thankyou to @RobertJonGodden for his thoughts on this - how should conduct their now very public internal review, arguably one of the most important challenges they have faced for a long time theartnewspaper.com/news/magnum-ph
Exclusive : photographer Newsha Tavakolian has issued a staunch defence of her photo assignment in East Congo, which included identifiable images of teenage rape survivors 1/7
My report on the imperilled ‘partnership’ of the Parthenon Marbles - thanks to and for their insight. It’s clear the people of Greece won’t accept anything but the unconditional return of their culture’s ancient artefacts
Natalia Lach-Lachowicz, one of the great pioneers of feminist avant garde image making, has died. Don’t underestimate how dangerous it was to create images like this in 1970s Poland. Was censored in Warsaw as recently as 2019. A great loss to photography.
#NataliaLachLachowicz
Main takeaway from the World Cup; I didn’t realise how much Southgate and Kane meant to me. England was a toxic, myopic culture before they came in; their leadership is based on respect and standards and co-operation. Huge achievement, one that maybe outweighs tournament results.
Remember - the UK doesn’t have a systemic racism issue
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BREAKING: A Metropolitan Police officer has been convicted of membership of the banned neo-Nazi terrorist organisation National Action.
Benjamin Hannam, 22, from north London, is the first British officer to be convicted of a terrorism offence
Helen Whately, a Tory health minister, just crumbled on Radio 4. I almost felt sorry for her. Begged to be asked about the NHS and not Zahawi, then failed to offer any assurances on ambulances turning up for stroke victims. The government are barely capable of governing.
Wasn’t all that familiar with Frank Horvat but his exhibition at is a real stunner. This portrait, from 1950s Paris, just pulled me in. Oh to take one of these home.
We're getting the debate on AI photography all wrong. Here's what we should be talking about.
Great comment by
Woke up to discover this.
Appeared in our council estate overnight …
Does anyone else make a pot of coffee when WFH, and then drink it cold throughout the day? Just me?
Pulled myself out of bed this morning. Got dressed and walked dog to my local cafe. Copped some funny looks whilst ordering my macchiato. Got in, girlfriend started laughing at me - discovered I'd forgotten to remove the velvet eye mask from my forehead. Peak lockdown realised.
In South London metro yuppie news, our day is shaping up to be; a walk around Battersea Park with coffee and the dog, Shakshouka and sourdough, an hour of tennis, two pints in the local microbrewery, a roast chicken with trims and a movie. Fair to say I’ve leant into my 30s a bit
My cousin reluctantly turned up to his daughters’ village hall Xmas thing in Sheffield today. The Santa guy got taken ill so guess who has to step up at the last minute after a six day week - 28 random kids telling him what they wanted for Xmas apparently - please applaud 👏🏻 ❤️
Four months after resigning from Magnum after abusive behaviour allegations, David Alan Harvey is advertising a mentoring program.
It includes a waiver asking you to sign away all your rights and legal protections and “assume all risk of personal harm”
(work by )
Watching The Walk-In, and questioning whether Stephen Graham’s career has been held back by fact he’s a working class Scouser. Because I struggle to think of a British actor more involving and atmospheric. Do we have anyone better than him? And why isn’t he more celebrated?
A very big museum-led outreach programme was launched by this morning. It's called The Wild Escape and its about educating primary school children about diversity loss in the UK - a group exhibition will follow in April. My report
I’m boxing for in three weeks! Trailer for night by here: vimeo.com/179322553 Please give here: justgiving.com/fundraising/To
Nothing like seeing your words in ink. My piece on ’s Single Dad series in the weekend’s ❤️
