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On display at V&A South Kensington
Photography Centre, Room 101, The Sir Elton John and David Furnish Gallery

Big Bang

Photograph
1986 (photographed)
Artist/Maker
Griffin, Brian (photographer)

The building activity in this photograph reflects the economic confidence of 1980s London. But the photograph is not simply a record. Influenced by the early 19th-century German painter Caspar David Friedrich, Brian Griffin shows the site at night, with a lone figure silhouetted in the foreground. The explosion in the sky was created by a powerful mortar firework deliberately shot to light the scene with dramatic impact. The crane and the surveyor’s levels on the ground form cruciform shapes. As a whole the scene resembles not so much a construction site as a war zone.


Object details

Categories
Photographs
Architecture
Object type
Photograph
TitleBig Bang (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Gelatin-silver print
Gelatin Silver Process
Brief description
'Big Bang' from Broadgate series by Brian Griffin. Photograph, 1986
Physical description
Black and white photograph of construction site with explosion in the sky.
Dimensions
  • Print height: 124cm
  • Print width: 154.5cm
  • Frame width: 171cm (Note: Measurement of object when framed)
  • Frame height: 139cm (Note: Measurement of object when framed - frame does not exceed width of print)
Gallery label
  • Influenced by both the Romantic paintings of Caspar David Friedrich (1774–1840) and his own time working in England’s industrial Midlands, Griffin creates surreal and striking photographs. Here, a lone figure stands in an empty construction site, gazing upwards at an exploding firework blooming across the night sky. Griffin deliberately launched this powerful mortar firework, its star-like form lighting up the scene with dramatic effect.(May 2023)
  • The building activity in this photograph was the result of the economic confidence of the 1980s. However, the photograph was not intended simply as a record. Influenced by the Romantic paintings of Caspar David Friedrich, Griffin shows the scene at night with a lone figure silhouetted in the foreground. The explosion in the sky was created by a powerful mortar firework deliberately shot to light the scene with dramatic impact. The image contains symbolic references in the cruciform shapes, such as the form of the crane and the surveyor's levels on the ground, lit to form crucifix gravestones. As a whole the scene represents not so much a construction site as a war zone.(22/09/2004)
Credit line
Given by the photographer
Place depicted
Broadgate
Summary
The building activity in this photograph reflects the economic confidence of 1980s London. But the photograph is not simply a record. Influenced by the early 19th-century German painter Caspar David Friedrich, Brian Griffin shows the site at night, with a lone figure silhouetted in the foreground. The explosion in the sky was created by a powerful mortar firework deliberately shot to light the scene with dramatic impact. The crane and the surveyor’s levels on the ground form cruciform shapes. As a whole the scene resembles not so much a construction site as a war zone.
Associated objects
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
E.1064-1988

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Record createdJune 14, 2005
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O113200/big-bang-photograph-griffin-brian/
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