There's a new exhibition on in Liverpool's Walker Art Gallery....
In 1975, a young photographer called Paul Trevor came to Liverpool to document urban deprivation. He lived for 6 months in a high rise flat, photographing the areas of Everton and Toxteth. He captured unguarded moments of family life and day-to-day activity among the terraced streets and the high rise flats.
Today, 58 black and white photographs are being displayed, many for the first time, and we popped in on our way home from work for a coffee before viewing ....
Photographs were not allowed to be taken in the gallery, so I've had to pinch these from Google Images.
About two years ago Paul returned to Liverpool to try and find out what had happened to those children, and to try and identify as many people as possible from the photographs. Sadly, he discovered that the young boy is his iconic shot in the frame had died in his twenties, from a drug overdose.
The short film shows the much happier results of his search ... many of the children were able to point themselves out, all with typical scouse wit! We loved it!
Paul says that today you would never be able to take photographs like these .. just frank and candid shots of children and families just doing what they did back then .... which is a great shame.
They illustrate a time of great deprivation in the city. He also says that when he returned he didn't recognise the place ... so much has changed. Liverpool has really taken off in the past decade, and regeneration has improved these areas beyond belief. Thirty years on, and still teaching in another inner city school I know, there are no children , who 'look' so poor now .... but some still lead very hard lives, with unbelievable problems in their families. However, they seem to be better clothed and better fed now.
What was uplifting to see in all the photos, were families making the best of things in terrible conditions, and children just doing what they do best .... playing! Lots of the children I teach now are never allowed to play outside the door. Parents fear what could happen to them. They spend all their time indoors on X-boxes and computers, or on facebook and phones, and then they yawn all day because they've been up all night watching the TV in their bedroom!
They don't seem to be as financially deprived any more, but they are missing out on the more carefree childhood we enjoyed.
The exhibition is on until 25th September, and is well worth a visit. You don't have to be from Liverpool to relate to it ... it could be any city in any part of the country in the 1970"s.
Very interesting, thank you for sharing this with us. Yes it is a sad fact now that unfortunately a lot of children are no longer allowed to play outside in the fresh air and do what children do best, run around and play. Instead they stagnate inside as you say on computers, tv and the like.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fascinating exhibition. I would love this. A snapshot in time. I agree totally with what you say about kids not playing out anymore - its something that I insisted my kids did when they were growing up. I lived in a mining village when I was little and whilst we were not "poor", we didnt have spare cash, but I had a great childhood.xx
ReplyDeleteLooks an interesting exhibition especially since many of the original people have been traced, I imagine the film is fun to watch. I feel sorry for today's children who don't have the freedom of 'playing out'. I wouldn't swap my childhood (1940s/50s) for theirs for anything.
ReplyDeleteTell me can you understand what the children are saying? On a recent visit to Liverpool two young lads were sitting at the table next to ours in a cafe chatting to eachother. I thought they must be speaking Welsh because it was obviously a foreign language but no my companion told me they were speaking English !!!! I swear I could not understand a single word ! A particular way of speaking in Liverpool I gather. So .... do you speak and understand this language?
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the kids these days don't have the same carefree childhood as we did. We are always on the lookout these days for predators aren't we?
Cheers
Helsie
I would have been 12 at the time. I was brought up in an inner city in London. I remember children looking like that too. It is like looking back at another world. We sat on the kerb, played on rubbish dumps and got up to all sorts of mischief. Things we experienced helped us to 'grow up'. We 'lived ' our lives back then and didn't just go through the motions of life through a computer game. Lovely thought provoking post. x
ReplyDeletehow lovely that you featured this....i just spoke to pauls mum, who was a friend of my parents from way back and she is incredibly proud, she even sent me the flyer from the exhibition. i will tell her about your piece ...she will be really chuffed....a very talented guy!
ReplyDeleteIt is such a shame that children no longer get to be children anymore, it amazes me how they just don't know how to play or amuse themselves. Gone are the days of making mud pies and make believe games, at least we still have our memories though xxx
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting post.You hit the nail on the head with the kids who never go outside. We have kids like that in our school. Whatever writing prompt you give them it reverts back to some kind of video game. Really sad. I would have loved to been there in person to see the photos.
ReplyDeleteI read about this exhibition - how wonderful to see it. Sad to hear about some of those children suffering so. I was devastated when I heard that a boy I went to art college with died in a squalid flat from drug abuse a few years after we all left.
ReplyDeleteGreat though that some had such fun recognising themselves.
You always have the most interesting things to post. I agree though that it is sad in today's world that so many kids don't just spend their free time outside "playing".
ReplyDeletethese are some of the most touching photos ive seen in a long time. the artist seems to have looked deep into the childrens lives/
ReplyDeleteMy husband's family is from Toxteth and the last time I was back there was 1989. That building in the 7th picture reminds of where his grandparents were living. They wouldn't move. High rise from hell:(
ReplyDeleteWe're visiting Liverpool for one of our little trips on 19 September so I'll just be able to catch this exhibition before it ends. Thanks for the post!!!
ReplyDeleteK xx