Chris Killip : Retrospective

Tender exhibition at the Photographers’ Gallery of work by Chris Killip who died two years ago.

I’d not come across Killip’s work but I loved these bleak but dignified pictures of life in the north of England in the 1980s. He emerged himself in communities at one point living in a caravan on a beach where people were foraging for coal spill.

My favourites were the early ones from his home in the Isle of Man at a time when the community was split between the agricultural workers and financiers coming in. There was a stunning picture of an auction which was full of faces.

I also loved this one from Durham in the miners’ strike. I love the man juxtaposed with the crowd of police yet their faces are the same.

A section on a fishing community at Skinningrove in North Yorkshire reminded me of the current Winslow Homer show at the National Gallery and his work in the village of Cullercoats.

Closes 17 February 2023

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