The Photographer's Gallery is not known for its roomy interior. However, it is still easy to misuse the space and produce a flawed exhibition. It is a tribute to the skill of the gallery that so much is done with so little, so often.

Dave Lewis's work suits a small, intimate space. The first of the two installations reached after entering the gallery is 2001's Wall. This piece is a triumph of detail. The four poster-sized photographs of which it consists are all close-ups of architecture. Each is judged expertly to convey just enough information -- unlike certain puzzles, it is clear what each picture is of; however the subjects are still mostly obscured beyond the camera's lens. For a piece called Wall, the lack of "walls" in the photographs is perhaps surprising -- two are of portals or gates, one appears to be a window frame, and one is of a column. Once one understands where these pictures were taken, the "wall" becomes clearer. Each is a building linked to the prosecution of offenders. It is the idea of "wall" that is being photographed here, and Lewis' oddly organic gate and broken column are representative. By focusing upon details, Lewis reminds the viewer that the Wall is comprised of individual bricks, just as any offender is a person. Wall is a piece of meaningful simplicity.

In contrast Lewis' other work exhibited is more immediately complex, if only in size and organisation. Chapter 6 (also 2001) is a series of 16 individual poster-size frames, each containing a section of the whole. The work concerns racial attitudes, and each frame contains a quote taken from the Stephen Lawrence enquiry. Fifteen of the frames also contain a photograph, directly printed onto a single sheet of thick paper. The quotations are arranged as if to explain the photograph, though each acts as a problematic commentary on the anonymous Afro-Caribbean man in the pictures. The photographs are often blurred or badly framed, in order to deny the observer the comfort of "understanding" the subjects. In addition, some photographs show nothing but a Polaroid pinned to a wall, possibly alluding to the "second-hand" information so common in the enquiry. I feel the piece works very well, the quotations making the viewer feel a little uneasy about not being able to "understand" this man and his life. Is the institutionalised racism mentioned in the "explanations" holding the viewer back from knowing the reality in which these "journalistic" photographs were taken?

The piece turns upon the one frame with no photograph, the quotation in which begins "no such evidence is before us...". It is a simple trick, but it is used to great effect, and encourages the viewer to look back and view the earlier photographs in a new light as "evidence". Chapter 6 works well, and approaches its subject in a thoughtful and original way.

Dave Lewis is at the Photographer's Gallery until November 24th. The gallery is open daily, and can be contacted by telephone at +44 020 78311772 or at www.photonet.org.uk