Beyond the Frame 9/
Tish Murtha — The British Social Documentary Photographer
Tish
“If you want to photograph the tribe, you’ve got to be a part of the tribe. You’ve got to dance the same dance.”
Tish Murtha was a British photographer who, most famously, documented the lives of disadvantaged communities in the North East of England.
Growing up in a region neglected by the harsh economic policies of Thatcherite Britain, Tish saw the effects of high unemployment, social deprivation and civil unrest, experiencing the tougher end of working class life first-hand.
Photographers often speak about “access”; the ease with which we’re able to spend quality time with the people and places we photograph. Tish’s access was all around her, all the time. Her photographs of family, friends and neighbours glow with an intimacy that reflects the obvious affection she had for her community.
One of Tish’s most well known photographs shows children leaping from a window onto a pile of discarded mattresses. In the bottom left of the frame stands Tish’s brother, Mark Murtha, holding a ventriloquist’s puppet.
Mark is one of many of Tish’s family and friends who appear in “Tish”, a wonderful documentary, one of the Financial Times’ Ten Best Films of 2023.
“I was sitting, dreaming of my past and my future.” — Glenn Murtha
Tish, directed by Paul Sng and narrated by Maxine Peake, brings a compelling record of Tish’s life and work against the background of a challenging period in Britain’s recent history.
Tish’s work didn’t receive the recognition it deserved in her lifetime. She struggled to obtain funding and found it impossible to make a living from photography. She died in 2013, the day before her 57th birthday.
“She spent her final few weeks traipsing around trying to get jobs in a kitchen.”
I’m so pleased this documentary exists. It brings Tish’s work to a new audience and, hopefully, can provide a valuable frame of reference for the political decisions we make about social wellbeing and welfare. It’s a legacy I hope Tish would have been proud of.
Tish, the documentary, is available on Amazon Prime, BBC iPlayer, AppleTV and YouTube.
Limited Edition prints are available via the British Culture Archive.
The Bikeriders
The Magnum photo agency website has a series of online exhibitions, including “The Bikeriders”.
“A raw insight into 1960s American biker culture”
Danny Lyon rode with the Chicago Outlaws motorcycle club in the 1960s and documented the “gritty reality of life on the road”.
London’s V&A Museum described Danny’s photo of five bikers speeding into the distance as a “Masterpiece of Twentieth-Century Photography.”
“Looking through my 105mm lens, it wasn’t that hard to position the five bikes, speeding away, and push the shutter button, which went off like a small guillotine, a thsssippp sound you could hear across a room. — Danny Lyon
Right, Mrs. G and I are heading to Ally Pally (where hyperbole is alive and well) for a “spectacular union of musical legends, two of the UK’s most iconic bands… in a monumental co-headline show.”
Expectations = High
Thanks for writing about the Tish documentary. I wasn't familiar with her work. I look forward to watching and to learning more.