The Toxic
Camera
Details
The Toxic Camera was created by Jane and Louise Wilson in 2012. Commissioned by FLAMIN Productions. Co-produced by Forma and FLAMIN Productions. Supported through Film London Artists’ Moving Image Network and Arts Council England.
The Toxic Camera
Jane and Louise Wilson
2012
The Toxic Camera is a short film by British artists and Turner Prize nominees Jane and Louise Wilson that reflects on the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Inspired by the story of filmmaker Vladmir Shevcheko, who died a few months after making Chernobyl: A Chronicle of Difficult Weeks, and his highly radioactive camera, The Toxic Camera interconnects the stories of survivors, 25 years later, to explores the vulnerable nature of the landscape and the human body.
Jane and Louise Wilson, The Toxic Camera, 2012 (still)
Jane and Louise Wilson, The Toxic Camera, 2012 (still)
Jane and Louise Wilson, The Toxic Camera, 2012 (still)
Jane and Louise Wilson, The Toxic Camera, 2012 (still)
10 Year Anniversary at Maureen Paley, London between 29 April – 5 June 2022
For the tenth anniversary, The Toxic Camera (2012) by Jane and Louise Wilson is presented across the two London spaces of Maureen Paley. The Wilson twins have been working together for over 30 years. From early on their work often examined liminal zones of exclusion, abandoned military sites and buildings. Working within an expanded field of photography, their work has dealt both directly and indirectly with the ways populations and governments impact the environments we live in.
Images: Exhibition view of Jane and Louise Wilson – The Toxic Camera (2012), courtesy of Maureen Paley, London
Artist Biographies
Jane and Louise Wilson were born in Newcastle and studied respectively at Newcastle Polytechnic and Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, Dundee before undertaking an MA at Goldsmiths College of Art, London. They began working together in 1989 and since then have exhibited at major galleries internationally. They were nominated for the Turner Prize in 1999. Jane and Louise Wilson are represented by 303 Gallery, New York and Galería Helga de Alvear, Madrid.
Press
Post-atrocity Exhibition: Jane and Louise Wilson, The Guardian, 22 October 2012
Artists Jane and Louise Wilson offer view of Chernobyl, BBC Online, 9 October 2012
Jane and Louise Wilson, AnOther magazine, 5 October 2012
Touring
2014
Tate Britain, London, UK
2013
New Horizons International Film Festival, Wrocław, Poland
International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, Oberhausen, Germany
International Film Festival Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands
2012
Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, UK
For further details on our touring portfolio please contact Carolina Ongaro at co@forma.org.uk
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Image credit: Jane and Louise Wilson, The Toxic Camera, 2012 (still)