Don’t miss! - Chris Killip Exhibition
I’ve mentioned this before but, having seen the exhibition again today, it’s worth an extra mention. You simply MUST go!
Chris Killip’s full-career retrospective is currently on view at London’s Photographers’ Gallery (close to Oxford Circus) and you can see it until 19th February. If you can’t make this but live in the North East you’re in luck - the exhibition tours to the Baltic Centre of Contemporary Art in 2023.
I won’t steal the exhibition’s thunder but several things struck me about this extraordinary body of work:
Hard work and peristence pay off. Chris suffered many setbacks, particularly in the early days, including violent reactions to his perceived ‘intrusion’ into intimate and tightly-knit communities. But he dug in, worked even harder and gradually broke down the barriers.
Projects trump random images. But you know that already as I’m always banging on about it. If you’re not yet convinced, this exhibition should help persuade you of the power of projects.
There’s nothing quite like black & white. Seeing physical prints of this stature really drive home the impact of black & white, especially with the natural ‘organic’ look which can only be achieved using film (many photographers today over-use the effects in Lightroom or Photoshop to produce over-processed, unreal looking images). I think I will start a campaign for the use of black & white!
Books are one of the best investments you can make as a photographer. The book accompanying the exhibition is a real stunner and I would defy anyone not to be inspired to take on a documentary project having read this. Okay, it costs £50 but what else can you buy for £50? A reasonable meal for one? Half a tank of diesel?
