23
B+WFOR EVER AMBER: STORIES FROM
A FILM AND PHOTOGRAPHY COLLECTION
runs until 19 September; Laing Art Gallery, New Bridge Street,
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE1 8AG; amber-online.comYouth Unemployment, Elswick, 1981 © Tish Murtha Below Fishing Industry, 1981 © Nick Hedgesupon-Tyne in 1969. The pictures
selected for this retrospective are
largely those taken in the north-
east or are images relating to the
theme running throughout the
exhibition: to tell the stories of
those communities on the brink
of disintegration.
With an overall aim to collect
documents of working class
culture, the group also place
importance on artistic autonomy
and supporting their peers both
financially (members pool their
income and pay themselves an
equal wage) and creatively.
Looking at the images
displayed at Laing Art Gallery,
the work is not only unified by
subject matter but their subtle
approach too: rather than
outwardly expressing a political
position, the photographers
seem more interested in
depicting ambiguities and askingthe viewers to draw their
own conclusions.
Perhaps one of the most
celebrated series that grew out
of Amber is co-founder Sirkka-
Liisa Konttinen’s Byker series – a
12 year project documenting an
inner city community in east
Newcastle. With many seeing
Byker as the spine of Amber’s
collection, it seems fitting that
a selection from the series are
the first images viewers see and
the 2003 Byker Revisited (where
Sirkka went back to re-document
the site) end the exhibition.
Other photographers’ work on
display includes Bruce Rae, Chris
Steele-Perkins, Simon Norfolk,
Peter Fryer and Julian Germain.
With each picture narrating
Amber’s fascinating 45-year
story, this major retrospective
emphasises how valuable this
cooperative is to the UK.22-23_EOTM_180/ABE/MB.indd 2322-23_EOTM_180/ABE/MB.indd 23 16/07/2015 10:5916/07/2015 10:59