Founded by Scottish born artist and documentary photographer Grace Lambert-Phillips, during the unprecedented world events of 2020, The Lambert Phillips Foundation presents the art of storytelling through the visual artistic mediums of photography, film and words. We work on a project and commissioned basis with all profits from our work going back into the work of the foundation, which is rooted in the preservation of art and culture. We believe that our future depends on the depth of our creative and cultural communities, that at the core of all thriving societies there is a place where culture and art are nurtured and preserved. It is our mission to create spaces where an artistic and creative environment can thrive and grow. We offer creative spaces, learning opportunities, artist's residencies, hospitality within our living art spaces and an environment where art is within everything that we do and share.
Progressed projects such as 5/4 Portraits of Humanity, exploring human connection, and I See your Strength, celebrating the strong spirit in women, formed an enriching purpose for developing the foundation. The first official project, Stories of Isolation, was created and launched in March 2020; an anthropological, documentary photography project gathering and sharing the work of photojournalists from around the world, gaining an international audience and positioning, dedicated to launching and telling stories of humanity.
Established in London and now based in Florence, The Lambert Phillips Foundation works in partnership with public and independent charities, institutions and companies, presently working on projects focussed on the preservation and documentation of the culture and traditions of Italy. In parallel to working on and building projects, our focus goes to the development and opening of our first private studio, darkroom and gallery at the Villa la Posta, an 18th century historical villa, in Monteriggioni, Tuscany.
Current projects are, Reimagining the Grand Tour, a photographer's journey through Italy documenting the country as a 21st century traveller, Approaching Art a series of interviews giving voice to the topic of art within conversations between artists and Venice is a Sound, a celluloid record of a city in peril.
On the 19th September 2024 we will present, Disclosures, our first curated presentation in Florence, works which approach the topic of how the city is affected by tourism and how, during 2020, this position changed. Learn more.
Persues with the head of medusa, 2020. Disclosures.
GRACE LAMBERT-PHILLIPS
Grace shares stories of connection and culture, documenting life through her lens. She developed an appreciation for the art of photography through the experiential, raw processes of working with film as a young photography student in Scotland and soon established her dedication to the artform of black and white street photography. Telling stories was always her aim.
Having established her career as a documentary photographer, during a chance meeting in Scotland with artist Jack Vettriano, Grace photographed a series of portraits of the artist and became a muse in his paintings, exchanging their individual artistic expressions. Grace went on to curate a number of independent photography exhibitions and collaborated with charities, public and private institutions and companies in France, the UK and Italy gaining a reputation as a visual story teller, offering her images as a way to open conversations about important topics. In 2018 she was asked by London-based charity Youmanity to discuss the topic of suicide through her work and went on to produce a body of work entitled What does friendship mean to you? presenting portraits & conversations on the topic and theme of human connection. These pieces were exhibited in Westminster and displayed across the DLR stations of London during 2019 and 2021.
Grace went on to establish The Lambert Phillips Foundation in 2020 dedicating her work to the art of story telling, she continues to expand her documentary photography portfolio, capturing the stories of the abundantly rich history of European culture. Currently living in between Tuscany and Venice, she devotes her time to writing, currently working on her first book, Only the Deepest Red, in which she shares stories of her life and connection with Vettriano, and the development of projects aimed at bringing attention to the important topics such as tourism and the preservation of the culture of Italy.
Persues with the head of Medusa. Disclosures 2024
Contemplation of Betrayal
oil on canvas
Jack Vettriano O.B.E
Only the Deepest Red
Oil on canvas
Jack Vettriano O.B.E
No Turning Back
Oil on canvas
Jack Vettriano O.B.E
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
OF LIGHT AND TIME
A series of images around the topic of travel in France, NY & London. 20 images were presented alongside a projected black and white film.
"Of light and time is the basis of photography, the idea was simple, just light and time and where I happened to be at the time, pieces of life"
Roujan, France August 2011
Leran, France October 2011
THE FRIENDSHIP PROJECT
In collaboration with the London based charity, as part of their Friendship campaign, we were invited to produce a body of work in response to the invitation to support their anti-suicide campaign. We came up with the project entitled 'What does Friendship mean to you?" - A collection of 20 photographs taken during 2019 in London, asking 10 women and 10 men the question, collecting during these interviews, their answers. Together with their responses, these images were exhibited across the DLR stations of London during World Mental Health Day in 2021, and also were presented in exhibitions within London City Hall, Dorchester Library in Westminster and the House of Commons during important social dates to highlight the works which were created as part of the charities
anti-suicide campaign.
2019 - London City Hall
2021 - DLR stations London
2022 - Porchester Library, Westminster, London
2023 - House of Commons, London, World Suicide Prevention Day.
THE LONDON SCENE
Works inspired by Virginia Woolf's 6 essays of London life of the same title, a series of images were gathered in the city of London during 2013-2019. Together with an observation of the culture of London and how, based on the writings of Woolf, the city had changed and what remained.
"Walking and living on the same streets, I tried to reclaim what she was seeing, to see from my own perspective as a woman from a new era, to witness those streets as both her and myself all at once" GLP
"London is enchanting. I step out upon a tawny coloured magic carpet, it seems, and get carried into beauty without raising a finger. And people pop in and out, lightly, divertingly, like rabbits; and I look down Southampton Row, wet as a seal’s back or red and yellow with sunshine, and watch the omnibuses going and coming, and hear the old crazy organ. One of these days I will write about London." VW
A private viewing was made during the summer of 2019 in
Chelsea, London.
DISCLOSURES
Six limited edition black and white fine art prints will be exhibited in Florence in September 2024. These photographs were captured during the city's second lockdown, a time when the absence of tourists allowed the culture embedded in the marble and stone to resurface and express itself in its original form and voice.
"What emerged for me during those weeks in 2020, was the story of the city underneath the noise. Persues showed his victory over Medusa, Hercules stood over Cacus in triumph and Neptune’s horses leapt from the fountain at his feet, as though coming to life again. Under the gaze of tourists these grand pieces had
become attractions, but in that moment, humans removed,
it was as though they became again what they were created to
be, centre pieces of the city, the propoganda of the day, the theatre set of the people. The stone and marble of Florence spoke again within that silence and it was as though the city reclaimed itself and burst out into life once again to live its original story.”
Opening 19th September 2024
Golden View, Firenze.
FUL MAGAZINE
From the Canvas to the Lens - article published within the Florentine cultural magazine, FUL Magazine. An overview of the career of Grace Lambert-Phillips, her work as the muse of Vettriano to her work as a photographer.
"her's is a tale of powerful femininity, a life lived by virtue of art."
Published summer 2024.
