Who's looking at the family?

Exhibition catalogue for the 1994 Barbican Art Gallery exhibition.

A fascinating insight into that central but very private institution – the family, and the photographers who looked closer to home for clues to the puzzling nature of contemporary society

Photographers, inquisitive and voyeuristic, have been examining the family closely since the invention of the medium.

The show included Anna and Bernhard Blume’s bizarre Kitchen Frenzy, where the calm world of the suburban kitchen explodes, and introspective projects by Larry Sultan and Paul Reas both of whom explored the relationship between father and son through their own personal histories. Visitors saw the fears and delights of motherhood in Sally Mann’s photographs of her own children; the portrait of Nottingham family by Nick Walpington; and family groups posing for the camera in photographs taken by the Apes of London Zoo.

The exhibition opened many front doors, let us peer into bedrooms and bathrooms, fridges and cupboards, but more importantly, into the relationships which make the family.