National Museums Liverpool Blog - look11

As part of the Look11 photography festival there has just been a big weekend of Magnum events at the International Slavery Museum. The Magnum Professional Practice course attracted photographers from across the country for two intense days of inspiring talks.

Magnum photographer Ian Berry, whose Living Apart exhibition is currently at the museum, arrived early on Friday evening for a free 'in conversation' event with National Museums Liverpool's director of art galleries Reyahn King. It was a fascinating discussion, as Reyahn describes here:

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The Living Apart exhibition of Ian's photos of South Africa really moves me. My parents were in the African National Congress and I grew up with South Africans in exile in and out of our home. I felt like I knew the place because I knew the people and it's the people – not the beautiful scenery or the famous animals – but the real heart of the country, its people, that Ian's images capture. There's a pavement dance (shown here) which captures the ability to find joy and express it in art in the hardest of circumstances. There's the dignity of a boy whose house has been burnt down in Lesotho. The determination of those burning their passes, demonstrating at funerals, stocially getting on with their lives. It's as if Ian's camera has a heart of its own that documents the moment of subtle tension or even outright violence but does so always with compassion. Ian calls this honest observation, rather than political mission, and in all the images shown you can see his integrity as a photographer.

On Friday night Ian came up for an 'In conversation' event. His description of photographing as people fell down in the grass beside him, shot in the back by the South African police at Sharpeville created a horrified, transfixed hush in the 60 or so of us listening. Ian himself was matter of fact, telling us how glad he was that his images could be used as proof that people were innocent victims in the following trial of – not the police – but those shot at! I said that it seemed like a brave thing to do – not to run away, but just to lie down in the grass and take photos. Ian was dismissive – just being professional, doing a job.

There were some great questions from the audience too. Remember Liverpool was in the forefront of the anti-apartheid movement in the UK and the exhibition includes the 'Liverpool 8 Against Apartheid' banner that people of Toxteth (L8) used in their marches. Several questions from photographers about technique – why black and white for the images of South Africa? (Answer: Ian’s personal preference – he uses colour for professional assignments when required but prefers the quality of black and white). Does he use film now? (No, digital Leicas). An intriguing question asking if Ian had seen similar racial tensions on beaches in Rio de Janeiro. How would he feel if his work was presented as art? He said he didn’t have a problem with it – but he made no claims – his skill as a photographer was about capturing the moment, making it interesting, showing people in one part of the world what was going on in another part of the world. Ian commented too that there was decreasing call for a photographer like himself. The appetite for documentary photography of world events and places is being replaced by celebrity. What a shame. 

Imagine what it feels like. It’s Liverpool in the mid 1970s and you and your mates are still in school. A photographer moves into the area for a few months on his first job away from London to get some pictures of the area. You’re curious about this strange man with a camera and over the months you and your community get to know and trust him, so much so that you invite him into the ‘kids’ den’ – an empty garage where you sit on old car seats and listen to records with your mates.

Over 30 years later you are invited to the Walker Art Gallery to see an exhibition featuring photographs of your old childhood friends and haunts taken by that stranger from London – who in the intervening years has become a successful photographer. Your name, your photograph and pictures of your friends are adorning the walls where great works of art, from Old Masters to the contemporary stars of the John Moores competition have previously hung.

It must be quite a lot to take in.

This is what happened to Ian Boland yesterday, when he was one of the first people to see Paul Trevor’s Look11 exhibition at the Walker, Like you’ve never been away. Ian was a key factor in kickstarting the idea for the exhibition, as he got in touch with Paul Trevor a few years ago to ask what had happened to his photographs from his time in Liverpool. Some of the photographs had been published in the book 'Survival Programmes' but most of them had never been seen by the public.

The two exchanged many emails and slowly started identifying the people in Paul’s pictures. This grew into the exhibition and a larger – and still ongoing – re-engagement project. Paul has tracked down many of the people by posting his Liverpool 1975 photos on Flickr, then found more through community events in Everton and Granby in summer 2010.

Ian’s part in the process is acknowledged with quotes in the exhibition. You can see Ian and others having a preview of their pictures in the Like you’ve never been away set on Flickr. Do come and see the exhibition yourself, which is open 6.30-10pm tonight for Light Night and continues until 25 September.

As any discerning Liverpool music fan will know, Norman Killon used to be the resident DJ at the legendary Liverpool club, Eric's. We've asked him to share his top ten records with us, which will all no doubt be getting a spin at the Walker Art Gallery this Friday as part of Liverpool Light Night. Norman will provide the soundtrack to the evening, which will also be the opening of our new photography exhibition 'Like you've never been away'. You can see full details of what's on offer at the Walker here...

1. Deaf School – Taxi
This was the biggest and fastest selling single in Probe records. It’s taken from their second LP, Don’t Stop the World,and preceded their sell out concert at the Liverpool Empire. I was co-signature on the contract for the concert and wrote some notes in the programme.

2. The Only Ones – Another Girl, Another Planet
What can you say about this record? It must have the greatest intro and emotional release of any record. Time hasn’t dimmed it's glory.

3. Joe Gibbs  - No Bones For The Dogs
Every week at Probe we would have a delivery of pre-release Jamaican 45 singles. It became an instant favourite of mine and then the Eric’s crowd, in fact in many ways it was the ultimate Eric’s record.

4. Althea and Donna – Uptown Top Ranking
As above. I was playing this for several months before it received a British release. So you could say we paved the way for their only UK chart hit!

5. Flamin’ Groovies – Shake Some Action
Apart from being a magnificent song and performance, my memories of the Groovies are they helped to varnish the counter in Probe the night prior to opening the branch in Button Street. Plus the group coming back to mine after the gig at Eric’s and playing loads of great singles til' the early hours. Deaf School have had the song in their set for over thirty years.

6. The Clash – Complete Control
The greatest of the Punk bands. They played Eric’s twice. The great thing about the Clash is they evolved and had two good songwriters in Joe Strummer and Mick Jones. This a stunning performance and reminds me of their high energy live performances. The Clash were the last great band – controversial!

7. Talking Heads – Psycho Killer
This reminds me of them appearing at Eric’s as support to The Ramones. At this time Love Goes was the only import single by them available, so everything apart from that was new to us. This became an instant classic.

8. The Undertones – Teenage Kicks
The Undertones had a run of absolutely fab singles beginning with this. Still have my original Irish Good Vibrations copy. I remember the Saturday afternoon of the day they played Eric’s, I was having a drink in the Grapes in Mathew street when the door opened and turned to my companion and said "look, Fergal Sharkey" he was immediately followed by the rest of the Undertones.

9. Junior Murvin – Police and Thieves
Another great reggae record produced by Lee Perry and a UK hit. It was also covered by The Clash on their first LP. It always brings back fond memories of my ex-wife Penny.

10. Iggy Pop – The Passenger
Iggy of course had a previous history with the Stooges which influenced the British Punk groups. This came from an LP that was more user friendly. It was then and still is a classic. He appeared at Eric’s and his first number was a 60's cover of Benny Spellmans Fortune Teller, a number that a lot of the Merseybeat groups performed, particularly The Merseybeats.

Living Apart: photographs of apartheid by Ian Berry is the latest in a strong and varied programme of exhibitions at the International Slavery Museum. It's the venue's second offering for the Look11 photography festival, providing a thought provoking counterpart to the insightful and uplifting '42' Women of Sierra Leone, which opened last month. It's also the International Slavery Museum's largest ever exhibition - with almost 100 photographs to fit in it has taken over the Maritime Museum's usual exhibition space on the floor below.

Magnum photographer Ian Berry opened the exhibition yesterday evening with a great talk about the changes he had seen over 40 turbulent years of South Africa's history. He finished on a positive note describing a scene he photographed on what was designated a 'whites-only' beach at the time. He spotted two Black youths venture onto the beach and when a white couple approached was sure that there would be trouble. However when they walked by without incident this gave him hope that the years of segregation could soon be over.

It is almost impossible to imagine life under apartheid, with the freedom and rights - that we feel should be taken for granted - denied to so many for so long. The exhibition has some shocking images, as well as many quiet moments of human dignity that are quite moving.

Ian Berry was born in Preston, and joked that he was proud to be exhibiting in a city that was once part of the same county of Lancashire, making this almost a homecoming for him. These local ties must be strong as he will be returning to the International Slavery Museum for an 'In conversation' event on Friday 3 June at 5.30pm. Tickets for this free event are bound to go quickly so make sure you book one soon - full details are on the website.

There's a very exciting year ahead at the International Slavery Museum and yesterday I got to meet the women behind the venue's latest project with the working title 'The woman I am'.

The project is led by photo journalist Lee Karen Stow, whose exhibition '42' Women of Sierra Leone opens at the museum in March, to coincide with International Women's Day. In addition to taking photographs herself, Lee has run a number of workshops in Sierra Leone and the UK, teaching women digital photography skills.

This week she has been working with the Liverpool Women Asylum Seekers Together (WAST) group on the photography workshops for 'The woman I am'. The group have are hoping to exhibit the photographs they have taken in the new centre for the Women's Organisation, which opens soon in the city. A selection of their photographs will also be featured on the '42' exhibition website.

When I caught up with them they were taking portrait photographs and had brought in some fabulous colourful clothes from their home countries to wear - and dress Lee and volunteer Abi in! Some photos from the day are in the WAST photography workshop set on Flickr.

Update 02/03/2011: You can now see the online exhibition of 'The Woman I am' on the website.

Lee told me that it had been a very successful week:

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"This week about sixteen women from all parts of the world have taken part - from Tibet, the Congo, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Ghana. Women who maybe have done a little bit of photography before, snapshots, but they’ve never really focussed on using the camera to explore the things they like and things about themselves.

I have to give enormous thanks and credit to these women because they’ve come here this week, many of them are going through horrendous difficulties either with red tape, forms or legal implications; or stress or worries about back home or their future here.

And yet they’ve come in, picked up the cameras, listened to a few basic instructions and they’ve gone out and they’ve taken some really good pictures. Their energy has just been a complete overwhelming buzz to the class, so it's been a great experience, I’ve really enjoyed it and I think they have too.

There is a stereotypical view of asylum seekers. But if people look beyond the stereotype they will see women just like us with problems and dreams, wanting to make a better life for themselves."