Insomnia

Insomnia is a showcase of Ishmael Annobil’s night photography, a genre benefiting from the insomnia he has suffered (and enjoyed) since his boarding school days in Ghana, in the 70s. It is also a celebration of the pioneering techniques he developed for photographing the witching hour, “when light stretches beyond visible distance to sculpt and refine shadow”.

The collection focuses on London's nightscape, revealing an otherworldly side, where noise dissipates into whispers, the heavens seem to close in weightily to take stock, and buildings, streets, revellers, stragglers, hustlers, the lonesome, and the dejected become mythic, commanding our attention, awe, or fear.

Annobil's ability to see light in the most impossible places is very apparent in this monograph. It underpins his unique style - his images have a puzzling sense of antiquity and grandeur about them, making even the commonplace subject iconic. This forces the viewer to recalibrate the way they view the space around them.

An ardent film photographer, Annobil enjoys an uncanny knack for squeezing analogue qualities out of the digital medium, without making any concessions to its twee finery or artifice. The photographs in this collection represent some of his finest black and white work in both media.