A discussion exploring feminism, identity and collaboration in documentary photography, through Francesca Odell’s archive and practice.

About the session

Are collaborative approaches to photography a feminist act? Drawing on her doctoral research into Ffotogallery’s archive of documentary photographs of the South Wales Valleys, Sam McGuire will consider the role gender played in Francesca Odell’s practice. Through close reading of Odell’s prints and contact sheets, Sam will argue that Odell’s access to her subjects, photographing them in bed, on the maternity ward and on Christmas morning, was informed by her identity. The session will consider how personal politics, life experience and social conditions shape the relationships photographers form with the people they photograph.

Francesca Odell: Coping With and Enjoying Life is on at The Turner House, Penarth from 4 October to 8 November 2026. The exhibition is curated by Sam McGuire and Chloe Davies as part of Ffoto Cymru 2026.

Please note: Turner House has two floors, and the top floor is accessible via stairs only. If you have any access requirements, please contact us in advance at info@ffotogallery.org

About:

Sam McGuire is a writer and researcher specialising in histories of documentary photography and more inclusive stories of art. She is co-curator of Francesca Odell: Coping With and Enjoying Life (Ffoto Cymru 2026), an exhibition drawing on her doctoral research into notions of community documentary in Ffotogallery’s Valleys Project Archive. Recent publications include Great Women Photographers (Phaidon, 2026), ‘Life Reflected Back, Loud and Clear’ (Tate Papers no.38: Voice/s in the Museum, (https://www.tate.org.uk/research/tate-papers/38/life-reflected-back-loud-and-clear) 2026) and Earthly Paradise: A Reader (William Morris Gallery, 2026). Between 2014 and 2025, Sam was a curator in the Research and Interpretation department at Tate, working on exhibitions and displays including The 80s: Photographing Britain (2024), Women in Revolt! (2023) and Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power (2017). Between 2018 and 2024, she was an associate lecturer on the Curating the Art Museum MA at Courtauld Institute of Art, and has been a trustee of Photo Oxford since 2024. Sam grew up in the Vale of Glamorgan and is based in London and Cardiff.

Wednesday 28 October

12:30-14:30

The Turner House

Plymouth Rd

Penarth

CF64 3DH

Part of Ffoto Cymru 2026 (https://www.ffotogallery.org/ffoto-cymru-2026-about), Wales' International Festival of Photography

Description supplied by the event organiser.