20/20 brings together photographs documenting the North East of England by Chris Killip (1946-2020) and Graham Smith (1947). Twenty works by each photographer will be on display alongside snapshots and ephemera as a tribute to both their enduring work and lifelong friendship.
The black-and-white photographs in the exhibition document the North East between 1975 and 1987—a period when heavy industry was still thriving, followed by an unforeseen and devastating collapse. The images were taken in locations including Skinningrove, Tyneside, Middlesbrough and Co Durham, and depict an environment that for over two centuries had evolved from the industrial revolution. The photographers documented the individuals and communities whose lives depended on heavy industry, people who were facing a politically forced change to the landscape and their ways of life that had been settled for generations.
"Late in life Chris stated that during his years in Newcastle, he unknowingly recorded the de-industrialisation of North East England. We both witnessed a rapid change to the industrial landscape and, in our own ways, recorded the transformation and aftermath."- Graham Smith
Killip and Smith first met in the summer of 1975 when their paths converged through Amber, a film and photography collective in Newcastle upon Tyne. A close and lifelong friendship followed and in 1985 they created their landmark exhibition, Another Country which was shown at the Serpentine in London. In 1991, their works were shown alongside three other photographers at MoMA, New York, under the controversial title British Photography from the Thatcher Years. Following a backlash from some UK newspapers and the effect it had on individuals and their community portrayed in Smith’s images, he stepped back from the public arena of photography. As a consequence, Smith’s work is not as widely known as it merits. Killip, who was teaching at Harvard University in this period, went on to exhibit widely and his work was the subject of a posthumous touring retrospective which was first shown The Photographers’ Gallery, London in 2022.
The idea for 20/20 was conceived by gallerist Augusta Edwards in 2019 as a revised curation of Another Country. Killip and Smith each selected 20 images for the exhibition and their photographs were to be displayed anonymously together on the walls so it was unclear who had made which photograph. Killip did not live to see the original 20/20 exhibition as it was delayed due to the Covid pandemic but it was eventually shown at Augusta Edwards Fine Art Gallery at Cromwell Place, London in October 2022.
Exhibition information
Dates: 11 April - 30 June 2024
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