Dark satanic stills
Reporter: DAWN MARSDEN
Date published: 28 April 2010
DIFFERENT perspectives of Northern England will be explored at a new exhibition at Gallery Oldham.
Photographer Ian Beesley charts the tradition of social documentary photography in England.
In North/South Divide, which opens on Saturday, he considers the differences in how the North is represented and sees if there is a visual North/South divide.
Observing the Northern working classes in their bleak industrial surroundings has proved a popular subject with Southern photographers for many years.
The trend has resulted in a series of images which reinforce the “It’s grim up North” viewpoint.
The exhibition will look at a number of different aspects of Northern life such as landscapes, industry and people at work and play.
It features work by some of the most famous photographers of the 20th century including outsiders Bill Brandt, Martin Parr and Tony Ray Jones and Northerners John Davies and Shirley Baker.
Sean Baggaley, curator at Gallery Oldham, said: “Ian Beesley has looked through the collections of museums and archives all over the North of England and we are pleased that so many have been prepared to lend them for this show.
“It’s hard to pick a favourite from this fascinating selection of images.
“What great photographers do is capture a moment that makes you look again at places or people that you think are familiar to you.
“I’m sure our visitors will enjoy having their views of Northern stereotypes either challenged or reinforced — I’m not sure which.”
Ian was born in Bradford and started taking photos in the 1970s following the demise of the textile trade.
He is the course leader for the MA in photography at the University of Bolton.
Nominated for the Fellow in Photography at the National Media Museum in 2008, he is currently working with poet Ian McMillan on a number of projects including “The Drift” an exhibition and book about one of the last coal mines in the Yorkshire coalfield.
Ian McMillan has written a special poem for the exhibition giving his unique take on the North/South divide.
