Chris Killip’s 24 black and white photographs now on exhibit at the Amador Gallery document the human cost to Britain’s process of de-industrialization. Spanning the period from 1974 to 1988, Killip captures ordinary citizens against a crumbling landscape, their facial expressions conveying hopelessness and despair. We see children playing in urban rubble, burned out apartments in the background. A family attempts to enjoy a picnic, debris scattered nearby. Men, women, and children wait patiently in a bread line, tense and anxious.
Widely praised as one of Britain’s best photographers, this is Killip’s first solo exhibit in the U.S. Hopefully, it won’t be his last, but just in case, take time to visit the Amador Gallery on 57th Street.
During the terms of four Prime Ministers—Harold Wilson, Edward Heath, Jim Callaghan, and Margaret Thatcher—towns in the North of England attempted to adjust to an economy turning away from manufacturing. Killip’s photographs graphically portray the human toll these policies extracted from those Brits who depended upon factory work for their livelihood.
Killip is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Henri Cartier Bresson Award and his work is featured in the collections of major institutions including the Museum of Modern Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum. He is a professor of visual and environmental studies at Harvard University.
4 & 20 Photographs by Chris Killip
Amador Gallery
41 East 57th Street, 6th Floor
212-759-6740
www.amadorgallery.com
Through November 13, 2010
