seanohagan

‘I am the witness and the subject’: Magnum photographer Jim Goldberg on telling his own story
Now 70, the revered photographer, known for documentary projects such as Raised By Wolves, has turned the focus on himself with a photobook chronicling his own journey via birth, love, death…
Sean O’Hagan
01, Oct, 2023 @12:00 PM

30 autumn arts highlights, chosen by Observer critics
From Scorsese and Madonna to a Philip Guston retrospective, a Maria Callas tribute and Armando Iannucci’s play on Tory chaos, our writers pick the best things to see this autumn
27, Aug, 2023 @8:00 AM

The big picture: a luminous Sinéad O’Connor in one of her early shoots
The musician, who died last week, captured by photographer Andrew Catlin in a series of intimate and unselfconscious images
Sean O’Hagan
30, Jul, 2023 @6:00 AM

Rebellious, hilarious and oblivious to the power of her presence… my old friend Sinéad O’Connor
The Observer writer first met the young Dublin singer before fame struck. Then they started hanging out together off-duty. He recalls her as a fierce outsider and a beguiling free spirit
Sean O’Hagan
29, Jul, 2023 @2:00 PM

‘I see them as cautionary tales’: Kristine Potter’s darkly imagined American south
Inspired by the American murder ballad the photographer captures a strangely familiar psychogeography
Sean O’Hagan
23, Jul, 2023 @10:00 AM

Angela Rayner: ‘Why should I have my rough edges smoothed off?’
If Labour wins the next election, Rayner will be the second most powerful person in the land. She talks about her ‘feral’ childhood, ‘pragmatic’ socialism, and why some Tories are scared of her
Sean O’Hagan
16, Jul, 2023 @6:00 AM

‘Singular, eccentric visions’: Lee Friedlander’s photography seen through the eyes of Joel Coen
The celebrated film-maker saw something of himself in the work of the American photographer. Now he’s curated a new book and exhibition
Sean O’Hagan
08, Jul, 2023 @4:00 PM

‘A total perfectionist’: the understated, underrated photography of Evelyn Hofer
With a retrospective in London and many artists today citing her as an influence, the work of the German-American photographer is getting recognition at last
Sean O’Hagan
11, Jun, 2023 @11:00 AM

Larry Sultan’s painterly photographs of swimmers
Partly to confront his own primal fear of the water, the Californian photographer spent years capturing the sometimes ungainly, sometimes balletic dance of humans learning to swim
Sean O’Hagan
04, Jun, 2023 @11:00 AM

Northern Ireland: Living With the Troubles review – an incomplete snapshot of the conflict
Imperial War Museum, London
The exhibition exploring 30 years of strife has plenty of atmosphere and features voices from all sides but lacks clarity of purpose
The exhibition exploring 30 years of strife has plenty of atmosphere and features voices from all sides but lacks clarity of purpose
Sean O’Hagan
28, May, 2023 @8:00 AM

‘He epitomised the dazzling 60s and then was gone’: the inside story of Rolling Stone Brian Jones
Nick Broomfield’s new documentary recounts the life and death of one of rock’s most tragic characters
Sean O’Hagan
07, May, 2023 @9:00 AM

A lost Ukraine: the photographs that show the calm before the carnage
Katherine Turczan grew up in the US listening to her family of Ukrainian exiles talk about home. In the 90s, she finally visited the country, taking gentle, bucolic pictures that now feel tragic
Sean O’Hagan
24, Apr, 2023 @5:00 AM
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