Solo exhibition at Tate Britain, London
2003
June 6–September 4
In 2003, Wolfgang Tillmans’s first midcareer retrospective,if one thing matters, everything matters, was held at Tate Britain in London. Opening three years after Tillmans was awarded the Turner Prize, this critically acclaimed presentation marked the first time the museum had devoted an exhibition to a single photographer. Among a number of works created specifically for the show was a large-scale video installation, Lights (Body) (2000–2002).
If one thing matters, everything matters was curated by Mary Horlock in collaboration with Tillmans, who also designed an accompanying publication of the same title featuring more than 2,300 images. Jeremy Millar, who met with the artist to discuss the book, reflected, "One sees throughout Tillmans’s work a longing that moves between engagement and retreat, a fascination for the crowd and all that comes from a shared experience, the ‘sensuous community,’ but also those things which reveal themselves only when we find ourselves alone. These are the moments of reflection upon what has come before, an attempt, perhaps, to re-establish the sense of self that had previously been dissolved."
In a review forfrieze magazine, Tom Morton called the exhibition "a luminous illustration of how and why we pay attention to the visual world." Reacting to the range of works on view, which included a selection from the artist’s Concorde series(1997), still lifes, portraits, and abstract works created using dye or developing fluid on light sensitive paper, Morton noted "what makes Tillmans’s best work sing: the ability, through looking a little, and loving a little, to turn events in our visual lives into vivid, everyday poetry, with all the pleasure and knotty exegesis that implies. It’s a small thing, but—as Tillmans might say—it matters."