For the fourth edition of TALKING BOOKS, artist, editor, and researcher Joy Gregory will present Shining Lights: Black Women Photographers in 1980s–90s Britain, published by MACK/Autograph in 2024. This critical anthology is the first to bring together the groundbreaking work of Black women photographers in the UK during the 1980s and 1990s. Spanning documentary and conceptual practices, the book offers a richly illustrated exploration of a significant yet overlooked chapter in the history of photography. In conversation with Joy Gregory and artist Cristina Piza, we will reflect on the book’s themes, including the use of photography as a medium of empowerment and the ways these photographers explored and expanded its boundaries.

The book presentation takes place on the occasion of the exhibitions A World in Common . Contemporary African Photography and Silvia Rosi . Protektorat, situating these artists’ voices and practices within a global dialogue on identity, photography, and culture.