Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen moved to the Byker area of Newcastle in 1970 and shortly after her arrival she began to capture the spirit of the community in evocative photographs that formed the basis of a book and film. Since leaving Byker in 1976, Sirkka has maintained contact with the area and its many residents who have become her friends. "Byker Revisited" is a visual and verbal documentary, a portrait of a contemporary community that is in flux - a community of the poor, the disadvantaged and the refugees who demonstrate a life-affirming humanity which is captured in their words and Sirkka's stunning photographs. Lee Hall, the writer of the film "Billy Elliot" and the play "The Pitmen Painters", provides an introduction. The exhibition and the Amber documentary film of the same name in 2009 will ensure that this small but famous area of Newcastle will attract a world-wide audience, an audience who will instinctively respond to the basic 'goodness' reflected in the words and pictures. Some twenty-eight languages are spoken in the Byker area representing a diverse collection of people who could be described as being on the margins of society but the images and interviews collected in "Byker Revisited" affirm a commonality in the hopes and aspirations of this diverse collection of cultures and religions. It is a community that is uniquely Byker.
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"Most of the most successful photobooks about Englishness or Britishness are those that examine a community or locality, often though the close links that the photographer has with the area. Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen's Byker Revisited is a fine example." --British Journal of Photography
"Byker Revisited is a collection of intimate portraits asking us to 'imagine, if you were to put your life in just one picture, what would you have in it?' The images tell colourful, moving and honest stories of lives, fully lived, hidden, inside an urban flux." --Narc. Magazine
"The photos and humour, ugliness and beauty, the casual and the formal of Byker Revisited, all conspire to reveal a world where we do not conform, where we do not have to simply be one thing, where life is complex and contradictory. That Sirkka has found this in this new book as clearly as she did in the old is why she is a brilliant artist." --Lee Hall, writer of "Billy Elliot" and "The Pitmen Painters".
"Byker Revisited is a collection of intimate portraits asking us to 'imagine, if you were to put your life in just one picture, what would you have in it?' The images tell colourful, moving and honest stories of lives, fully lived, hidden, inside an urban flux." --Narc. Magazine
"The photos and humour, ugliness and beauty, the casual and the formal of Byker Revisited, all conspire to reveal a world where we do not conform, where we do not have to simply be one thing, where life is complex and contradictory. That Sirkka has found this in this new book as clearly as she did in the old is why she is a brilliant artist." --Lee Hall, writer of "Billy Elliot" and "The Pitmen Painters".
About the Author
Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen is a founder member of Amber, a film and photography collective that came together in London in 1968 and moved to Newcastle upon Tyne the following year. Her books include "Byker" (1983), "Step by Step" (1989), "Writing in the Sand" (2000) and "The Coal Coast" (2003). Amber films that have grown out of her photography projects include "Keeping Time" (1983), "Byker" (1983), "The Writing in the Sand" (1991) and "Letters to Katja" (1994). Amber's documentary film "Byker Revisited" (2009) is released alongside the book of the same name. A wide range of Sirkka's photographs is accessible at www.amber-online.com.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By R. Hyams
Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen is a photographer of immense sympathy and subtlety. Her pictures are never merely stylish or beautiful, though they're usually both; her power lies in the giving over of power to the people she represents in these pictures, while retaining a formal view. There's wit, fascination and depth in this book; an impression only strengthened by the text that accompanies the pictures. As a portrait of complexity in the England of today, this is a jewel.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Byker Revisited is the return of Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen back to Byker after many years away (she lived there in the 1970's and released a previous photography book called 'Byker' on her time there). The book gives many examples of people in the Byker community and show their lives within a single photograph. It also contains photographs from the previous Byker book that showed the times around the demolition of many of its terraced streets and also the famous 'girl on space hopper' photograph.
All photographs are a perfect portrait of the families who took part in this collection of photographs and show a side of a community that some may not see, one that live together in the area around the Byker Wall.
The book is brilliantly presented and there is also a foreword by Lee Hall.
All photographs are a perfect portrait of the families who took part in this collection of photographs and show a side of a community that some may not see, one that live together in the area around the Byker Wall.
The book is brilliantly presented and there is also a foreword by Lee Hall.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
I am a bit lost for words over this book, so I'm going to keep this simple : if you are interested in places, the people, the landscape, the architecture, the back story and combine that with excellent commentary and the sheer quality of the photography -- this is an essential part of your collection.
A tremendous book for the new century. There are many other things I could say in time but I think keeping the clarity of the message that this is an exemplary book on its topic speaks volumes itself.
A tremendous book for the new century. There are many other things I could say in time but I think keeping the clarity of the message that this is an exemplary book on its topic speaks volumes itself.
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