Byker Revisited by Sirkka Liisa Konttinen
- Exhibition date:
- 12 Sep - 31 Oct 2009
- Venue:
- Side Gallery & Cinema
40 years ago Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen came to Byker as a member of Amber film and photography collective. Her photographs documenting working class Tyneside became an exhibition and book and wove their way through Amber’s film Byker (1983). Feted across the world, the work was a celebration of the community that was demolished to make way for architect Ralph Erskine’s visionary Byker Wall.
She returned in 2003 to create portraits and landscapes of the new community. These were developed closely with over 100 individuals including people she photographed in the original project.
Bringing together some of the original work with Sirkka’s rich new photographs, Byker Revisited is a unique exploration of change, of where we have come from and who we are. Coinciding with the exhibition, Byker Revisited: Portrait of a Community is published by Northumbria University Press.