Where reality and unreality meet

"I can give vent more readily to my fantasies; it allows more scope for the dream," said Dorothy Bohm of her 1980 switch to colour after working exclusively in black and white.

A photographer for more than 50 years and a co-founder of London's Photographers' Gallery in 1971 (she also co-runs the Focus Gallery), Bohm was already a grande dame of British photography when she was encouraged to find her true palette by one of the giants of the medium, the American Andre Kertesz.

Bohm has travelled the world taking her colour-saturated, dreamy images and this small retrospective selection celebrates both her internationalism and her painterly eye.

Finding that the acute point of interest is often revealed in the detail, Bohm's images often concentrate on close-up fragments, which is where, she says, "reality and unreality mix".

Revealing her fascination with form, surface and reflection, Bohm focuses on the hidden textures of everyday life, showing us what's left when objects are abstracted from their functional reality: a close-up of a fly poster showing a model, a pop star or some advertising image, is taken, in the midst of a bustling street, at such an angle, for instance, that it both momentarily confuses reality and then heightens our sense of what's really going on.

Until Oct 6, Focus Gallery, 43 Museum Street WC1, Tue to Sat 11am to 6pm, free. Tel: 020 7242 7191. www.focusgallery.co.uk Tube: Holborn/Tottenham Court Road