Social History / Chris Killip
Martin Parr Foundation reprises Chris Killip and Graham Smith’s joint exhibition ‘20/20’
After meeting in 1975 through a shared love of their art, photographers Chris Killip (1946-2020) and Graham Smith became lifelong friends.
Their black and white images of the North East – specifically Skinningrove, Tyneside, Middlesborugh and Co Durham – became widely known in their seminal joint exhibition, Another Country, which was shown at the Serpentine in London in 1985.
Taken during Thatcher’s Britain, they depicted landscapes irrevocably shaped by industrialisation, and now facing decline.
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“Late in life,” Smith recalls, “Chris stated that during his years in Newcastle, he unknowingly recorded the de-industrialisation of North East England.
I Thought I Saw Liz Taylor and Bob Mitchum in the Back Room of the Commercial, South Bank, Middlesbrough. 1984, part of 20/20 at Martin Parr Foundation – photo: © Graham Smith, courtesy Augusta Edwards Fine Art
Thirty Eight Bastard Years on the Furnace Front, Furnace Keeper, Mess room for Number 4 and Number 5 Furnaces, Clay Lane Ironworks, South Bank, Middlesbrough. 1983, part of 20/20 exhibition at Martin Parr Foundation – photo: © Graham Smith, courtesy Augusta Edwards Fine Art
Who She Wanted and What She Got, Kids at the In-laws, Boxing Day, South Bank, Middlesbrough. 1982, part of 20/20 at Martin Parr Foundation – photo: © Graham Smith, courtesy Augusta Edwards Fine Art
“We both witnessed a rapid change to the industrial landscape and, in our own ways, recorded the transformation and aftermath.”
In 1991, works from both photographers were included in a group exhibition at MoMA, New York, under the banner British Photography from the Thatcher Years.
Both the title, and the collection, proved controversial; a backlash arose from some corners of the UK press, and as a result of the negative impact, most keenly felt by the communities pictured in his images, Smith stopped sharing his photographs publicly. Consequently, his name is less well known than it deserves to be.
Crabs and people, Skinningrove, North Yorkshire, 1981, part of 20/20 at Martin Parr Foundation – photo: © Chris Killip Photography Trust / Magnum Photos, courtesy Augusta Edwards Fine Art
Cookie in the snow, Lynemouth, Northumberland, 1984, part of 20/20 at Martin Parr Foundation – photo: © Chris Killip Photography Trust / Magnum Photos, courtesy Augusta Edwards Fine Art
Clay Lane Furnaces. South Bank, Middlesbrough. 1981, part of 20/20 at Martin Parr Foundation – photo: © Graham
Smith, courtesy Augusta Edwards Fine Art
In 2019, gallerist Augusta Edwards conceived the idea for the joint exhibition 20/20 as a revised curation of Another Country, displaying 20 images from each of the two artists anonymously, so it was not clear who was behind which.
In the end, due to Covid-enforced delays, the works were not shown until 2022 – two years after Killip had died. Now, the collection will be shown again, this time at Martin Parr Foundation.
“I attended the original Another Country exhibition at the Serpentine,” says Parr. “I can easily say it was the best photo show I had ever seen. How great it is to have 20/20 here at the Foundation, where the magic can be experienced again.”
Blackhill, Consett, Co Durham. 1977, part of 20/20 at Martin Parr Foundation – photo: © Graham Smith, courtesy Augusta Edwards Fine Art
Bever taking in the early morning sun, Skinningrove, North Yorkshire, 1982, part of 20/20 at Martin Parr Foundation – photo: © Chris Killip Photography Trust / Magnum Photos, courtesy Augusta Edwards Fine Art
Another Country exhibition poster, Serpentine Gallery, London, 1985 – photo: Serpentine Gallery
20/20: Chris Killip / Graham Smith is at Martin Parr Foundation from April 11-June 30 (gallery opening times are Thursday to Sunday, 10.30am-5.30pm; closed Monday to Wednesday. Entry to the exhibiton is free. For more information, visit www.martinparrfoundation.org.
Main photo: Chris Killip (Helen and her hula-hoop, Lynemouth, Northumberland, 1984 ©Chris Killip Photography Trust / Magnum Photos, courtesy Augusta Edwards Fine Art)
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