Issue 113 / April-May 2021

Thurstaston Beach - George Jones
scenes, complete with new understandings of tranquility
and emptiness. Photographs such as Isolation, which
depicts a Manchester hotel with a single illuminated
room, play with light and a strong composition to
ignite a sense of loneliness, while being deeply
atmospheric in its use of colour. The Past is a Foreign
Country portrays another Manchester scene where
a modern cityscape looms nefariously over an old
industrial street. The image’s patchwork composition
exposes gentrification as something palpable, layered
and always in process, as well as demonstrating the
precarity of history in the landscape.
Expanding on human stories through a point of view
that is often marginalised, Harry Arthur, Homeless in
Liverpool is an image that depicts a man with the word
‘rich’ written across his fingers. Here, the hand replaces
the face as the traditional subject of the portrait, and
the viewer is confronted with a sense of identity from a
sidelined perspective.
Unity Is Strength, which illustrates a mostly
unpopulated Liverpudlian street decked out in flags
during the 2019 Champion’s League final, aims to
address the importance of togetherness during a time of
separation. Underscored by a table decorated in red, this
photograph is visually striking in its celebratory tone, and
its evocative depiction of community spirit.
“I wanted to subtly capture the smaller moments
of bliss and the honest expression of Liverpool’s
communities, says its photographer Oliver O’Callaghan.
“It’s important to daydream and reflect on these special
moments.” For this photographer, escape through
imagination is a crucial theme, and is here interpreted
by reflecting on past celebrations and communal events.
The tenacity of this image is clear, and its outlook is equal
parts nostalgic and forward thinking. When layered with
commemorative flags and banners, the city street starts
to represent something new, speaking to the social unity
of Liverpool’s people.
Cranborne, similarly, emphasises the importance
of community and friendship in the city, showing three
figures playing with a football in a Liverpool street. Its light,
composition and feeling of being in the midst of a game,
gives the image an idyllic sheen. Images like Barry, which
shows a cheerful man on the Albert Dock with pigeons
perching on his head and shoulder, also put an interesting
twist on the traditions of photojournalism, exposing the
unapologetically joyous side to Liverpool life.
Amelia Jones, who describes the photograph as
telling the story of a “Liverpool-born man who still lives
and works in the city, is proud to be a Scouser and is
happy to tell the world.” says that they hoped to show a
“happier side to documentary photography”, subverting
viewer expectations. “It shows that Scousers have a
joyful side, and that even the birds aren’t afraid to say
hello,” adds Jones. There is a familiar warmth and strong
sense of playfulness to this image of the photographer’s
father, which demonstrates the strength of family and
relationships in the local area.
The photographer of A Flicker of Hope, an image
of a Black Lives Matter protest last summer, was also
interested in the social histories of the landscape that
rests behind the image. Some of 2020’s most powerful
and dynamic imagery has come from protest and this,
as a photographic diptych that is almost sculptural in the
strength of its light, is no exception.
Sean Tadman explains that they took the photograph
on the steps of St George’s Hall: “This imposing structure
– a symbol of the fortunes made from the slave trade –
fuelled the notions of injustice felt by the subject as she
spoke about Liverpool’s history and the oppression faced
by black people today.”
The image exposes how the cityscape itself can be
complicit in sustaining dark political conventions: “I found
it shocking when looking into the historical significance of
Liverpool in relation to the slave trade and how little we
in the UK are taught about it, particularly as our colonial
history has so much influence upon the UK’s culture,
architecture, art, and oftentimes, financial relevance on an
international scale.”
According to Tate Collective Producer Niamh, this
image particularly captures “what has been happening
in the past year”: the changes, the protests, the Black
Lives Matter campaign. The photograph’s monochromatic
colour scheme is a deliberate attempt to flatten the
time between the Civil Rights movement of the 50s
and 60s and that of the present day, demonstrating the
contemporary relevance of these issues, and giving a
sense of urgency to the image and its cause.
Many of these images follow in McCullin’s footsteps
FEATURE
by exposing the histories embedded in the landscape,
while demonstrating social change as being an integral
part of our city’s political history. The final project is a
celebration of the imagery that evolves organically from a
time of constraint, as captured by local people. Speaking
on behalf of Tate Producers, Laura’s assertion that the
project “shows a feeling, in Liverpool, of openness”
expresses the success of the project and its stories; while
each image is unique and personal, they are fragments
of a greater whole, contributing to a collaborative
understanding of the North West through engaging with
young local talent. !
Words: Leah Binns
Unity is Strength - Oliver O’Callaghan
The works in the exhibition will be shown across
Liverpool from 7th April. Tate Collective will also run
several day takeovers across their social media channels,
showcasing entries and the artists involved. Locations of
the billboards and further information on the project can
be found via the link below.
tate.org.uk/tate-collective/photographing-north-west
@TateCollective
Tate Collective is supported by Jean and
Melanie Salata with additional support from Garfield
Weston Foundation, The Rothschild Foundation, and Tate
Patrons.
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