Deirdre O'Callaghan has provided an unsettling but ultimately invigorating record of the inmates at Arlington House, Europe's largest refuge for alcoholics and the displaced. One hundred years ago Lord Rowton took it into his head to build a hostel. Being a peer of the realm the grandiose came easily to him, and in 1905 the massive, even forbidding, red-brick edifice arose in Camden Town in London, filled with 382 beds for impoverished manual labourers. Clean sheets, washing facilities and nourishing food were to be provided for the inmates. In fact the great building, Arlington House, was designed to be, and quickly became, billets for the destitute Irish navvies who crossed the sea to find work in the capital. Today the Irish connection has not gone; almost 70% of the current residents are Irish, and, although they are equally poor, few of them work or labour - most are alcoholics, and largely forgotten by society. A picture of Arlington House in the past can be found in George Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London. It is not pleasant. Now the photographer Deidre O'Callaghan has brought together four year's work at the refuge, her record of the despair, humour and hope on the faces of the residents, a remarkable gallery of a largely expatriate community at odds with the world outside. But her pictures also record the work of the hostel itself in trying to reintegrate the residents into that world, photographs of clarity and wonder taken during trips to Ireland for the inmates. Some have lived at Arlington House for 30 years; many have not seen their families for as long. Her pictures of these reunions with their kin and their country are remarkable.
| ||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. Learn more. |
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Authors
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Product Description
About the Author
Hide That Can was winner of ICP Infinity Award for best publication in 2003 and Rencontres de la Photographie d'Arles 2003 Best Book of the Year
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
By "moyrart"
Format:Hardcover
'Hide That Can' highlights in a genuinely moving way the politics of displacement and poverty. The book is a photographic portrait of a group of Irish migrant labourers, now hostel dwellers in London, who were deprived at the end of their working life of the opportunity to return to their homeland. The Foreword states, 'These faces are a kind of history lesson' to us all.
This beautifully and intelligently-crafted book is such a tribute to Arlington House hostel and its residents. The sumptuous colour photographs and text reveal sufficient detail to break your heart. Deirdre O'Callaghan's creativity, her 'seeing eye', and her very special empathy with her subjects, are what documentary photography at its best is all about. At the end of her long-term involvement with these men, she has produced (with their collaboration) a very human book, with a heartbeat that is evident throughout.
The book's production also is exquisite. If you are a collector of fine books, and want a modern masterpiece, this is it. If you love photography, if you love humanity, then buy this book. It is the very finest book I have purchased all year, and I recommend it unreservedly.
M. Paterson Peralta.
This beautifully and intelligently-crafted book is such a tribute to Arlington House hostel and its residents. The sumptuous colour photographs and text reveal sufficient detail to break your heart. Deirdre O'Callaghan's creativity, her 'seeing eye', and her very special empathy with her subjects, are what documentary photography at its best is all about. At the end of her long-term involvement with these men, she has produced (with their collaboration) a very human book, with a heartbeat that is evident throughout.
The book's production also is exquisite. If you are a collector of fine books, and want a modern masterpiece, this is it. If you love photography, if you love humanity, then buy this book. It is the very finest book I have purchased all year, and I recommend it unreservedly.
M. Paterson Peralta.
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
