West Ox Arts in Bampton is to present the first retrospective exhibition of some of the world’s most iconic photographs from the 1970s and 80s. The photographs are from the portfolio of the award-winning photojournalist, Peter Jordan, and the exhibition will run until October 5 at the West Ox Arts’ Gallery in Bampton’s Grade II Listed Town Hall.
Peter Jordan’s photos have been seen on the covers and in the newspapers of some of the world’s most prestigious titles, and in some cases their visual impact can truly be said to have influenced world affairs.
Each of the sixty photographs in the exhibition tells its own unique story, a moment captured forever by Peter, and often with a subtext that makes the image even more fascinating. One photograph which will not be for sale, however, is a portrait of President Ronald Reagan with Margaret Thatcher taken in Downing Street in front of the Winston Churchill oil painting one evening at 10:00pm. The photograph was a birthday gift from Maggie to the President and it was agreed that Peter would never sell or publish it. The firmest of friends, yet deeply competitive and fiercely loyal to their countries, Regan asked Peter during the shoot who he worked for. Peter replied: “TIME Magazine, Mr President.” “Aah,” said the President, “You’re one of ours!” “No, no, Mr President,” countered Maggie, quick as a flash, “He’s one of ours.”
‘Shooting for TIME’ is the first-ever exhibition of Peter’s work and he chose to hold it in Bampton after moving to the Oxfordshire town from his home in Italy a couple of years ago. A signed, limited edition of each of the sixty signed and framed images is on sale, and the preview night raised funds for Maggie’s Centres which helped Peter and his late wife during her terminal illness.
The images above are as follows -
1) UK PM Margaret Thatcher in Chieftain tank. Germany, 1986
2) Mozambicans holding puffer fish & flying fish, 1991
3) Smoke ring over oil fires in Kuwait after Iraqi invasion, 1991
4) Mangosuthu Buthelezi, Zulu leader in 1979
5) Street scene in Kathmandu, 1982
All images © Peter Jordan