Regine photography, vintage

Childhoods under the lens of humanist documentary photography

The only photography venue in the UK exclusively devoted to documentary, Side Gallery, is about to re-open with an exhibition dedicated to children. Children! Now this is definitely not my favourite subject but a look at the press images made me realize that not everything related to kids needs to be offensively tiresome, uninspiring and jejune:

Philip and Jamie are creatures from outer space in their space ship. Denise Dixon.
Phillip and Jamie are creatures from Outer Space in their spaceship, photograph by Denise Dixon, Portraits and Dreams, Wendy Ewald

Seaham, Co.Durham Spring 2004 ©Karen Robinson
Karen Robinson, Seaham, Co.Durham, Spring 2004. From All Dressed Up

Also how could it be soporific when the show is handled by Amber, a collective born in the late 1960s with a mission to document working class culture in photos and videos? The new exhibition, called CHILDHOODS, will present work from Amber’s collection, spanning four decades of documentary photography. From 1977 to 2016. From children living in a small coalfield community in the Appalachians, USA to the ones living in today’s marginalized communities.

Sadly, i can’t go to Newcastle and visit the show but i laid my hands on as many press images as i could and have dutifully copy/pasted them below. With, occasionally, a few notes about the photos:

Israel_Tzvika_9574_where children sleep_James Mollison
James Mollison, Tzvika, 9, Beitar Illit, West Bank. From Where Children Sleep

“Tzvika, nine, lives in an apartment block in Beitar Illit, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. It is a gated community of 36,000 Haredi (Orthodox) Jews. Televisions and newspapers are banned from the settlement. The average family has nine children, but Tzvika has only one sister and two brothers, with whom he shares his room. He is taken by car to school, a two-minute drive. Sport is banned from the curriculum. Tzvika goes to the library every day and enjoys reading the holy scriptures. He also likes to play religious games on his computer. He wants to become a rabbi, and his favourite food is schnitzel and chips.”

Brazil_Ahkohxet_03_Where Children Sleep_James Mollison
James Mollison, Ahkôhxet, Brazil. From Where Children Sleep

“Ahkôhxet is a member of the Kraho tribe, who live in the basin of the river Amazon. There are only 1,900 members of the tribe. The Kraho people believe that the sun and moon were creators of the universe, and the red paint on Ahkôhxet’s chest is from one of his tribe’s rituals. The tribe grow and hunt their own foods, and any other material they need is bought using money earned from film crews and photographers who visit their camp.”

from 'Shifting Ground' by Dean Chapman
Dean Chapman, Shifting Ground, 2001

8 Coalfield Stories, Shifting Ground_2001_Dean Chapman_600px
Dean Chapman, Shifting Ground, 2001

When photographer Lesley McIntyre’s daughter Molly was born in 1984, she was suffering from a muscular abnormality. The doctors thought it was highly unlikely she would survive more than a few weeks or months. But Molly lived until her fourteenth birthday and McIntyre documented her moments of happiness and challenges in the series The Time of Her Life.

Molly administering her own medication, St.Mary’s Hospital,London1998_The Time of Her Life_Lesley McIntyre002 600px
Lesley McIntyre, Molly administering her own medication, St.Mary’s Hospital, London, 1998. From The Time of Her Life

Demonstration against cuts in education, Piccadilly, London, 1995_The Time of Her Life_Lesley McIntyre003 600px
Lesley McIntyre, Demonstration against cuts in education, Piccadilly, London, 1995. From The Time of Her Life

text messaging in Lorianne's bedroom. Thornley, Co.Durham Summer 2004 ©Karen Robinson
Karen Robinson, Text messaging in Lorianne’s bedroom. Thornley, Co.Durham, Summer 2004. From All Dressed Up

from the exhibition Juvenile Jazz Bands, commissioned by Side Gallery and first exhibited in 1979
Tish Murtha, ‘Mala’ Anderson, Elswick. From the exhibition Juvenile Jazz Bands, commissioned by Side Gallery and first exhibited in 1979

from the exhibition Juvenile Jazz Bands, commissioned by Side Gallery and first exhibited in 1979
Tish Murtha, The Chieftains training, Cruddas Park. From the exhibition Juvenile Jazz Bands, commissioned by Side Gallery and first exhibited in 1979

Tanya and her grandfather, 1982, from Step by Step.
Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, Tanya and her grandfather, 1982. From Step by Step

Connell-Brown Dancing School, North Shields, 1986, Step by Step, Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, 600px
Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, Connell-Brown Dancing School, North Shields, 1986. From Step by Step

Dance display at Terminus club, 1982, from 'Step by Step'.
Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, Dance display at Terminus club, 1982. From ‘Step by Step’

Carmen Decker and mum, Diana, 1982. from 'Step by Step'.
Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, Carmen Decker and mum, Diana, 1982. From ‘Step by Step’

Wendy Ewald‘s Portraits and Dreams was a participative project from the 1970s developed with the children she was teaching in a small coalfield community in the Appalachians, USA.

I dreamt I killed my best friend, Ricky Dixon. Allen Shepherd.
I Dreamt I Killed My Best Friend, Ricky Dixon. From Portraits & Dreams, Wendy Ewald

Liz Hingley’s Home Made in Smethwick are portraits of families living in Smethwick, one of England’s most ethnically diverse towns. The photos are accompanied by personal recipes.

from Home Made in Smethwick.
Liz Hingley, 2016. From Home Made in Smethwick

Kai Wiedenhöfer is showing portraits of refugee children from his new work, Forty Out of One Million / Syrian Collateral.

Duwa´a,2 & Schahd,5 al-Sarchan,Father Hassan 30, 5 children, worked as taxi driver betweeen Amman and Damascus. 13, April 2013 11am a rocket hit the 4. floor of the house of his uncle where they lived. They had moved there after their home came under control of the Syrian army. As soon as the Syrian army moved in all people left.He was in the third floor when the rocket hit the balkony than through three walls and injured the daughters badly in the bathroom were they played. 22 rockets were shot in less than an hour. The day before the FSA captured a nearby checkpoint (700m) and killed all the soldiers. Hassan takes Schahd with the notorbke to a nearby field clinic of the FSA with the motorbike of his uncle. She has a big shrapnelwound on the knee. He doesn´t know anything about Duwa´a fate than. She is brought by car to the same clinic. Her lower leg is cut of by the shrapnel and the stump is sewn. Two days after she is brought to Rantha from there to al-Jasira Hospital in Amman.A transplant is made for the stump. The prosthesis was provided by MSF, they will also make the next operation. Schahd 1,5 spent month, Duwa´a 3 month in the clinic of Syria Cross Borders. Hassan visited the girls once a week as transport is too expensive for their budget.Now they wait for the next operation. After they want to go back to Dera´a. The 125 JD for rent is from his father. Two of Hassan´s brothers were arrested and there are no news for 1,5 years. He was arrested for 5days and his car was torched by the Syrian custoums authorities. The oldest child can´t go to school too far. Amman, Jordan, 2014.
Kai Wiedenhöfer, Duwa a and Shahd Sarshan. From Forty Out of One Million. Syrian Collateral, 2015

Kuramo Junior College, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria. Basic 7 / Junior Secondary Level 1, Mathematics. June 22nd, 2009.
Julien Germain, Kuramo Junior College, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria. Basic 7 / Junior Secondary Level 1, Mathematics. June 22nd, 2009. From the series Classroom Portraits

CHILDHOODS opens on 1 October and closes on 27 November 2016 at Side Gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Previously: For Ever Amber, ennobling working class and marginalized communities.