Mike O’Mahony traces the close relationship between photography and sport, from its beginnings to the present day. Taking a unique thematic approach, he describes the early sporting images, the impact of technological developments on sports photography, and the establishment of new visual conventions for the representation of sport in the popular illustrated journals of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He examines the use of images of sport for commercial and advertising purposes, the gender politics of sporting practices, and the photographic representation of both the sports spectator and of non-professional sport, exploring their impact on wider socio-political issues along the way.

Mike O’Mahony is Professor of History of Art and Visual Culture at the University of Bristol. He is the author of Sport in the USSR, Sergei Eisenstein, and Olympic Visions.

This evening’s events are sponsored by The Noel Arms Tel: 01386 840317 www.bespokehotels.com/ noelarmshotel