BANK TOP par le photographe Craig Easton examine la représentation et la fausse représentation des communautés du Nord. Le travail se concentre sur une petite communauté soudée à Blackburn, en Angleterre, qui est devenue synonyme d’utilisation de mots comme ségrégation et intégration – le Panorama de la BBC la décrivant comme « la ville la plus ségréguée de Grande-Bretagne ». Les photographies d’Easton, ainsi que les textes de l’écrivain, poète et chercheur social Abdul Aziz Hafiz, visent à confronter les stéréotypes et à remettre en question la dangereuse simplification des défis auxquels ces communautés sont confrontées. Ils le font en présentant l’expérience contemporaine des résidents comme un « récit historique alternatif ».
Les photographies en noir et blanc du livre ont toutes été réalisées dans une zone de moins d’un demi-mille carré à Blackburn en 2019 et 2020. Travaillant avec un appareil de terrain en bois grand format, Easton a passé de longues journées et de longues semaines dans le quartier à faire des photos et à parler aux résidents – certains de leurs témoignages sont intégrés dans le livre. Cette longue collaboration, qui mêle images et textes, reconnaît les enjeux et les impacts de la privation sociale, du logement, du chômage, de l’immigration et de la représentation, ainsi que de la politique étrangère passée et présente. Il en résulte un portrait collectif et nuancé de la ville, une réponse sensible à la représentation déformée de ces communautés dans les médias et par le gouvernement, qui nie le droit de Bank Top de raconter sa propre histoire ; texte de Abdul Aziz Hafiz, photos en n.b.
‘The way that northern towns, neighbourhoods and people are presented in the media and absorbed by the popular imagination is full of homogenising signifiers of red brick terraces, women wearing headscarves and tough ‘blokes’. These mythologies are toxic fairy-tales ignoring the true stories of the complex social and ethnic textures of places like Bank Top, of lifelong friendships, marriages and bonds between people of contrasting backgrounds and multiple ethnicities and identities. Who does this oversimplification by the media serve? Why is the diversity brought about by complicated journeys taken to arrive here ignored? Is this a story about the observer rather than those being observed?’. -Abdul Aziz Hafiz
BANK TOP by photographer Craig Easton examines the representation and misrepresentation of northern communities. The work focuses on a small, tight-knit community in Blackburn, England, which has become synonymous with the use of words like segregation and integration – BBC’s Panorama describing it as ‘the most segregated town in Britain’. Easton’s photographs, alongside texts by writer, poet and social researcher Abdul Aziz Hafiz, aim to confront stereotypes and question the dangerous over-simplification of the challenges facing such communities. They do so by presenting the contemporary experience of residents as an ‘alternative history telling’.
The black and white photographs in the book were all made in an area less than half a mile square in Blackburn during 2019 and 2020. Working with a large-format wooden field camera, Easton spent long days and weeks in the neighbourhood making pictures and talking to residents—some of their testimonies are incorporated into the book. This long-form collaboration, which melds images and text, acknowledges the issues and impacts of social deprivation, housing, unemployment, immigration and representation, as well as past and present foreign policy. The result is a collective and nuanced portrait of the town — a sensitive response to the distorted representation of such communities in both the media and by government, which deny the right of Bank Top to tell its own story.
Craig Easton’s work is deeply rooted in the documentary tradition. He shoots long-term documentary projects exploring issues around social policy, identity and a sense of place. He often working collaboratively with others to incorporate words, pictures and audio in a research-based practice that weaves a narrative between contemporary experience and history. Easton conceived and led the SIXTEEN project with sixteen leading photographers exploring the hopes, ambitions and fears of sixteen-year-olds all around the UK. This Arts Council funded project was exhibited in over 20 exhibitions in 2019 / 2020. His work is held in private and public collections including the FC Barcelona collection, St. Andrews University Special Collections, Hull Maritime Museum and Salford University Art Collection.
