Trisha Ziff

Edito

Trisha Ziff is interested in what lies beyond the images themselves: their histories, the lives of their makers and the ways in which they endure across generations. A British curator and documentary filmmaker based in Mexico City, she makes photography the starting point for investigations into individual lives and the historical, political and social contexts that have shaped the works.

Whether tracing the journey of long-lost negatives from the Spanish Civil War, examining the fascination surrounding Enrique Metinides' photographs of crime scenes and accidents, or uncovering the connections between the artistic worlds of the brothers Joel-Peter and Jerome Witkin, her films examine the relationships between artistic creation, personal experience and collective memory. Through these stories, she addresses the memory of exile, the representation of violence and the influence of family history on artistic practice.

Together, these three documentaries consider how photographs acquire historical, artistic or symbolic significance over time. Ziff examines their power as testimony, as well as the circumstances of their preservation, recognition and transmission, reminding us how much our understanding of the past also depends on the images that have survived.

3 films
4 h 31 min
Edito, 2 min read

86’

Robert Capa, Gerda Taro & David Seymour｜The Mexican Suitcase

Mexico, Spain - 2011 es en

The rediscovered negatives of Robert Capa, Gerda Taro, and David Seymour (Chim).

In 2007, the rediscovery in Mexico of 4,500 negatives from the Spanish Civil War reshaped the history of photojournalism. Long thought lost, these images by Robert Capa, Gerda Taro and David Seymour offer a new perspective on their work and the circumstances of its preservation and transmission. Trisha Ziff traces the journey of this archive and gives voice to witnesses of a war whose memory remains deeply intertwined with exile.

88’

Enrique Metinides | The Man Who Saw Too Much

United States, Mexico - 2015 es en

Metinides’s world: fragile, brutal, magnetic.

For decades, Enrique Metinides photographed accidents, crimes and disasters in Mexico City for the tabloid press. His images, now recognised by art institutions, reveal a singular fascination with death and its representation. Trisha Ziff portrays a man haunted by the tragedies he documented and questions our own relationship with images of violence.

97’

Joel-Peter & Jerome Witkin | Witkin & Witkin

Mexico - 2017 en en

Twin brothers, two radical bodies of work: an intimate face-to-face between painting, photography and family memory.

Twin brothers Joel-Peter and Jerome Witkin have developed two profoundly different bodies of work, one in photography, the other in painting. Yet their artistic paths reveal shared concerns with the body, suffering and the human condition. By bringing the brothers together and placing their works in dialogue, Trisha Ziff examines the relationships between artistic creation, identity and family memory.

What you’ll find

Portraits of photographers, names everyone knows and others you’ll discover here. Films about street photography, war, fashion or portraiture, about printing and historical processes. About the trades of photography too. And then suggestions for going further, with Focuses, articles, interviews, bibliographies.

A small independent team

Documentaries about photography were rarely shown on television, and hardly at all on streaming platforms. We created The Darkroom Rumour to give them a place of their own. We are a small team, and we choose every film ourselves, with no school to defend.

Inspire your photography

In these films, you see photographers at work, in the field as well as in the darkroom. If you take pictures, you’ll often come away with an idea to try. If you simply like looking at images, you may start to see them differently.

How it works

You can watch the films online, anywhere in the world, on a computer, tablet or phone, and on TV by mirroring your phone’s or computer’s screen. Every film is available in French and English, with no ads. New releases come out on Saturday or Sunday. The trial lasts 7 days, and if you stop before day 8, you pay nothing.

The Darkroom Rumour on a TV, a computer, a tablet and a phone

Linked Articles

Beyond the Negatives: The human stories of the Mexican Suitcase

by Trisha Ziff

Beyond the Negatives: The human stories of the Mexican Suitcase

linked to Robert Capa, Gerda Taro & David Seymour｜The Mexican Suitcase

In this interview, filmmaker and exhibition curator Trisha Ziff revisits the extraordinary story of The Mexican Suitcase, a set of long-lost negatives from the Spanish Civil War once attributed solely to Robert Capa. Their rediscovery made it possible to restore authorship to three photographers : R…

Further exploration

Selected bibliography

• Cynthia Young (ed.), The Mexican Suitcase. The Rediscovered Spanish Civil War Negatives of Capa, Chim & Taro, Steidl Verlag, 2010. Libraries

• David Balsells (ed.), La guerre civile espagnole : des photographes pour l'histoire, Marval, 2001 (in French). Libraries

• Enrique Metinides and Trisha Ziff, 101 Tragedies of Enrique Metinides, Aperture, 2012. Libraries

• Anne Biroleau (ed.), Joel-Peter Witkin, Enfer ou ciel / Heaven or Hell, Bibliothèque nationale de France / La Martinière, 2012 (in French and English). Libraries

• Sherry Chayat, Life Lessons: The Art of Jerome Witkin, Syracuse University Press, 2006. Publisher · Libraries