WHAT? Deborah Turbeville: Photocollage 

WHERE? The Photographers’ Gallery, 16-18 Ramillies St. London W1F 7LW

WHEN? Now until 23rd February 

WHY GO  For an air of mystery. Was she an artist or was she a photographer? She was both rolled into one and more. Turbeville who died in 2013 aged 81 was an American visionary who started out as a fashion editor and ended as an experimental ‘artist’ of photography, in a similar vein to the Victorian great portraitist Julia Margaret Cameron.

This atmospheric exhibition records her hauntingly dreamlike work in monochrome and sepia tones and it blurs the boundaries between cinema and stills. 

Though she earned her living initially as a fashion photographer for glossies like Harper's Bazaar and clients such as Comme des Garcons, she experimented privately on projects that gave her artistic freedom, amongst them photo collages that have an enigmatic retro feel about them. 

These are the essence of a tightly edited show that highlights her work, amongst it images that reflect her ‘signature look’  featuring models that look strangely detached and unconsciously aware of the camera.

In 2009, fashion bible Women’s Wear Daily declared that Turbeville transformed “fashion photography into avant-garde art”. 

She later asserted that “fashion takes itself more seriously than I do.  I’m not really a fashion photographer”.

Her images are steeped in nostalgia and conjure up an atmosphere that was in total contrast to the colour saturated world created by the likes of glossy Seventies contemporaries such as Guy Bourdin and Helmut Newton.

IN THE KNOW Founded in 1971 as the UK’s first public gallery dedicated to photography, there are always new talents to discover while iconic names are honoured in The Photographers’ Gallery.  Some exhibitions are free. Want a souvenir of the Turbeville exhibition? A tote Bag featuring her legendary Bathhouse series is on sale at £15 in the gallery's inspiring gift shop.