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Featured Comments from the Chris Killip Post
I forgot to post comments from the Chris Killip post. Here are the Featured ones; the rest are published under the original post.
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Trevor Johnson: "I have been an admirer of Chris Killip’s work since I first came across him in the late 1980s. By the time the early '80s came, I was working in London and the South East, but had spent five years as an undergraduate at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and worked there for a year before moving, so I was very aware of the places he documented and the undoing of social fabric in Tyneside that was taking place.
"In 2023, Shirley and I visited Newcastle to view his retrospective exhibition at the Baltic, Gateshead, which is just over the river from Newcastle. We were both stunned at seeing the printed images, not only the content, which we had some awareness of, but the quality of the images and prints was simply outstanding. This was carefully considered, yet simultaneously spontaneous photography with medium- and large-format cameras.
"Afterwards, I again considered whether such documentary photography can exist today. What set apart, for example, the Skinningrove series, was that Killip lived, worked, ate and breathed amongst the community he documented. Another photographer who did the same was Tish Murtha, who lived in the west of Newcastle. One of the ironies is that I bought her book Elswick Kids from the Side Gallery in Newcastle, which Killip cofounded. But the Side Gallery closed in 2023, due to a reduction of its Arts Council grant. I hope it is a temporary closure but can imagine that if the Side was in London, it would still be open."
Nigel: "I have In Flagrante Two published by Steidl, 2016,which is also out of print, but maybe easier to find. Killip's book is very good if somewhat depressing look at the North of England, shot in the golden period of British documentary photography. This hard-hitting style of social photography has gone right out of fashion; younger photographers seem to want to talk about themselves, if what I see on the contemporary scene is representative of modern concerns. "
Michael Wayne Plant: "I first encountered Chris Killip’s work when I was at University doing my MA in Photography and Urban Cultures, they had a copy of In Flagrante in the College Library and it opened my eyes to what a committed photographer deeply engaged with his subject could do. He worked with a mix of cameras and even brought a caravan to be able to stay closer to his subjects while making a lot of the work that appeared in that book. I can only recommend that every photographer spend some time with the work that is in the book. The way it is presented in the book adds to the strength of the images. I have since brought his Seacoal book, which is great and beautifully printed.
"I do not like his colour postcards book on Ireland, it does not sing to my soul like his black-and-white images do. I for a long time felt that his move to America and to the hallowed halls of academia was such a waste for a photographer of his talent, as he really should have been spending more time making images."
Chris C: "Some of them are the time and places I grew up with, but he seems to make it look a bit grimmer than I remember."
Stephen Woolford: "Less difficult to find than the original is In Flagrante Two which was published by Steidl in 2015. The design and print quality are much improved, plus there are additional photos; but no essays. Killip worked in and around Newcastle upon Tyne in the 1970s and 1980s, moving to the USA in 1991 to teach at Harvard. Before he died in 2020 he donated 'The Last Ships,' a set of images of shipbuilding on Tyneside made between 1975–77, to the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle where they are permanently on display. Pony Box created a newsprint 'zine to go with the exhibition. I noticed recently that signed copies are still available from the Martin Parr Foundation in Bristol. Chris Killip photographed in the north east of England at a time of considerable de-industrialisation and hardship. The landscapes he worked in have been tidied but the adverse effects of those times are still felt by many communities.
"Hope you are making a good recovery."
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My apologies to all whose comments didn't appear in a timely fashion.
—Mike the Ed.
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