Tish Murtha

Tish Murtha
Born Patricia Anne Mutha
(1956-03-14)March 14, 1956
South Shields, England
Died March 13, 2013(2013-03-13) (aged 56)
Middlesbrough, England
Nationality British
Education The University of Wales, Newport
Known for Photography
Style Social documentary photography
Website tishmurtha.com

Patricia Anne "Tish" Murtha (14 March 1956 - 13 March 2013) was a British social documentary photographer best known for documenting marginalised communities,[1] social realism [2] and working class life [3] in Newcastle upon Tyne and the North East of England.

Background & Education

In 1976, aged 20, Murtha left home to study at the famous School of Documentary Photography at The University of Wales, Newport, set up by Magnum Photos member David Hurn. After graduating in 1978, she returned to Newcastle and set out to document “marginalized communities from the inside” - unlike other photographers who came to document social poverty in the region at the time Murtha didn’t just document it, she actually lived it,[4] as the third of ten children of Irish descent [5] brought up in a council house in Elswick she captured the lives of her friends, family and the community around her while herself on a job scheme for the unemployed.[6][7]

Career

This led to the then controversial exhibitions Juvenile Jazz Bands (1979) and Youth Unemployment (1981),[6][8] which was even raised as a subject of debate in The House of Commons.[9] Around this time Murtha was also commissioned to document the campaign Save Scotswood Works (1979) [6] and provided photographs for the THAC (Tyneside Housing Aid Centre) publications Do you know what this is doing to my little girl? - Home Truths in the Year Of The Child (1979) and Burying The Problem (1980), highlighting social poverty on Tyneside.

In 1982, Murtha moved to London, where she worked on London By Night (1983) along with Bill Brandt, Brian Griffin and Peter Marlow. The group exhibition documenting Soho and the commercial sex industry, was exhibited in The Photographers’ Gallery, London.[10] Murtha lived in the capital for five years, working on commission for Edward Arnold Publishers. She also photographed emerging celebrities Julian Clary and Philip Herbert and took the first headshots of a young Declan Donnelly upon her return to the North East in 1987.

Between 2008-2012, Murtha's work was selected for three Arts Council / British Council Collection exhibitions. In 2007, her work was selected for the David Alan Mellor book No Such Thing as Society: Photography in Britain 1967–1987: From the Arts Council Collection and the British Council Collection,[11] with an exhibition of the same name [12][13] touring between 2008-2010 showcasing "a radically new picture of these two turbulent decades." In 2008, Turner Prize-winning artist Grayson Perry selected her work for his book [14] and curated exhibition Unpopular Culture – Grayson Perry Selects from the Arts Council Collection,[15] examining 70 works by 50 artists during a period "before British art became fashionable",[15] and, in 2012, Observers: British Photography and the British Scene, "the first exhibition ever staged in Brazil to chart a course through British photography in modern times." [16]

Throughout her life, Murtha continued her documentary photography practice. Her final project captured central Middlesbrough before it disappeared as part of the Middlehaven Regeneration Project. Posthumously, her work has been included in the exhibitions True/Grit - A Celebration of Northern Realism (2013) [6] and For Ever Amber (2015). [17][18][19][20][21][22]

Death and legacy

On March 13, 2013 - the day before what would have been her 57th birthday - Murtha died after suffering a sudden brain aneurysm.[4]

She is survived by her daughter, Ella and grandson, Dexter.

Archive

The Tish Murtha archive, comprising thousands of unseen images, is currently being scanned by a team at The University of South Wales, led by Paul Reas.

Books with work by Tish Murtha

Collections

Murtha's work is held in the following public collections:

Exhibitions

Solo Exhibitions

Joint Exhibitions

Publications with work by Tish Murtha

References

  1. ↑ Falconer, Karen. "For ever Amber: Britain's answer to Magnum present life under a lens for marginalized communities of the North-East". The Independent. Retrieved 2016-02-20.
  2. ↑ O'Hagan, Sean (2008-05-11). "Before all the shouting started". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2016-02-20.
  3. ↑ Savage, Jon (2008-03-23). "Tories, turmoil and tank tops". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2016-02-20.
  4. 1 2 Murtha, Glenn (2015-06-12). "That’s me in the picture: Glenn Murtha, 17, leaping out of a window in Newcastle, 1979". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2016-02-20.
  5. ↑ Mulhall, James. "Powerful images of Irish in Britain to go on display in Newcastle". The Irish Post. Retrieved 2016-02-20.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Side Gallery - True/Grit Exhibition Information / Tish Murtha". Scribd. Retrieved 2016-02-21.
  7. ↑ "Side Gallery & The AmberSide Collection". www.amber-online.com. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  8. ↑ Mellor, David Alan. "Tish Murtha: Youth Unemployment in the West End of Newcastle". Photoworks via EBSCO HOST Connection. Retrieved 2016-04-10.
  9. ↑ "Part of the debate in the House of Commons, 18th February 1981.". www.theyworkforyou.com. Retrieved 2016-02-20.
  10. 1 2 "The Photographers' Gallery Exhibition History, 1971 - Present" (PDF). The Photographers' Gallery.
  11. 1 2 "No Such Thing As Society: Photography In Britain 1968-1987". Southbank Centre. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  12. 1 2 3 "No Such Thing As Society: Photography In Britain 1968-1987". British Council. Retrieved 2016-02-20.
  13. 1 2 "No Such Thing as Society - FOTO8". FOTO8. Retrieved 2016-04-14.
  14. 1 2 "Unpopular Culture - Grayson Perry Selects from the Arts Council Collection". Southbank Centre. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  15. 1 2 3 4 "Unpopular Culture - Grayson Perry Selects from the Arts Council Collection". Southbank Centre. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  16. 1 2 3 "Observadores - Fotógrafos Da Cena Britânica Desde 1930 Até Hoje". British Council. Retrieved 2016-02-25.
  17. 1 2 "For Ever Amber: documenting the everyday lives of people in England’s North-East". UK National Commission for UNESCO. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
  18. ↑ Cripps, Charlotte. "Social documentary: the working class and marginalised communities of The North East". The Independent. Retrieved 2016-03-30.
  19. 1 2 "Amber exhibition captures 50 years of life in North East". BBC News. Retrieved 2016-03-15.
  20. 1 2 "‘The beauty of the everyday’". BBC News. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  21. 1 2 "A culture preserved in Amber". British Film Institute. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  22. 1 2 Hodgson, Barbara. "Newcastle's Amber Collective unveils its first ever major retrospective of photographs". Newcastle Evening Chronicle. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  23. ↑ "Murtha, Tish - Arts Council Collection". Arts Council. Retrieved 2016-02-20.
  24. ↑ "About the AmberSide Collection". Amber Online. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
  25. ↑ "Look 11: International Photography Festival". www.liverpoolbaltictriangle.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-03-29.

External links

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