Tate Modern
Presents
Lives of the Intimate
Richard Billingham
Sally Mann
Larry Clark
Jo Spence
Richard Billingham:
Sally Mann:
His Snapshots aren't your typical everyday family
photographs, they go into detail of his parent’s
Her unconventional documentation of the
relationship and their lifestyle.
wildness of her kids childhood is often
controversial and is explored throughout this
exhibition.
Larry Clark:
Born to be wild, Larry captures
teenage angst, drug addiction, guns
and sexual exploration.
Jo Spence:
An intimate look into her life as she struggles
to deal with herself and her personal life as she
suffers with Cancer. ‘A photo therapy’ of this
moment in her life.
These photographers show different lifestyles that are commonly
experienced, but not shown in the media or to the public. It’s
normally hidden, as if it’s a secret; culturally mundane.
Tate Modern- Liverpool
Originally we thought about displaying this exhibition at Tate Britain in London. Mainly
because the Turner Prize is exhibited there. Tracey Emin was a nominee. If her work was
there perhaps other similar work in the same theme would work well. However we find
that the Tate Modern in Liverpool because they present more contemporary work.
Lives of the Intimate
“It is not time or opportunity that is to determine intimacy;—it is disposition alone.
Jane Austen
“It is part of the photographer's job to see more intensely than most people do.”
Bill Brant
‘’At the end of the day, what I show is real life. I tell the truth. And the truth can be shocking.’’
Larry Clark
Forget the typical posed family photographs. This body of work gives you the opportunity to
revisit the notions of intimacy over the past 50 years in a new light. Consider how far your
lives have changed and in which aspect. In today’s world our ideals of privacy are
represented by the Facebook generation, these photographs will hopefully redefine your
views.
Welcome to the Lives of the Intimate.
Blurb: Sally Mann
“I photograph my children growing up in the same town I did. Many of my pictures are
intimate, some are fictions and some are fantastic but most are of ordinary things every
mother has seen; a wet bed, bloody nose, candy cigarettes. They dress up, they pout and
posture, they paint their bodies, they dive like otters in the dark river.” Sally Mann Born in
Lexington, Virginia. Sally Mann was the only daughter and the youngest of three to be born
from Elizabeth Evans Munger and Robert S.Munger. Her father fostered her interest in
photography, with him lending her his 5x7 camera, which became the foundation of her use
of large format cameras today. She earned a B.A., summa cum laude, from Hollins College
(now Hollins University) in 1974 and a MA in creative writing in 1975. After her work on her
photographic collection “At Twelve: Portraits of Young Women” Sally Mann realised that there
was a creative and artistic wealth in the beauty of her own children’s youth whether it’s the
innocent fun and games or the darker more painful times when they get hurt and are scared
or angry. Sally Mann’s family portraits, “Immediate Family”, contains some the purest imagery
of childhood to exist in the medium of photography. Although it has been perceived as
controversial imagery by some, these photographs address more than just the family unit and
innocence in childhood but also adult perceptions and loss of innocence within ourselves, the
work exhibited here is displayed as if in a play room to captivate the viewer physically into the
innocent atmosphere of the enchanting childhoods of their lives given a small stop frame of
memories and the bubble of ethereal, angelic purity before the it becomes lost due to
adulthood. This selection from “intimate family” (1992) is a view from a mother’s perspective
and a sight into a word with which we are familiar but secretive about. Even by today’s selfie
obsessed, social networking standard it is a revealing insight into the dynamics and entwined
relationships that occur in every family unit.
Blurb: Richard Billingham
“It’s not my intention to shock, to offend, sensationalise, be political or whatever, only to make
work that is as spiritually meaningful as I can make it -in all these photographs I never bothered
with things like the negatives. Some of them got marked and scratched. I just used the cheapest
film and took them to be processed at the cheapest place. I was just trying to make order out of
chaos.” Richard Billingham Richard Billingham The almost candid nature of photography in his
set "Ray's a laugh" has caused shock and horror amongst some viewers, unable to take their
gaze away from these stark and almost disturbing images. Billlingham holds a mirror up to
society and the reflection summons feelings of shame and embarrassment, we want to keep it
under lock and key but the pure honesty of Billingham’s imagery, filled with drunkenness,
poverty and quarrels peeks our interests in a manner which we find sickening in ourselves, it’s a
car crash, its poverty porn. Richard Billingham's journey to make sense of his own surroundings
is very much on the edge of snap shots and art. The work is exhibited as if set in a living room
forcing the viewer and the image to co-habitat the space, sharing the claustrophobic
awkwardness of a ill-fated family gathering. The images confront with the denotation and
challenges you with the connotation. The shots are commonly taken on cheap colour film, in
almost disregard to the technical execution yet his use of the colour in his subjects and settings
dances across the image. The subject matter itself makes it very different, it is a series which
would not normally be seen and shown to anyone (although maybe social network sites are
shifting this paradigm), to take such intimate and controversial moments and making it public as
well as his dedication of documentation certainly elevates his work from more than that of just
family snap shots.
Blurb: Larry Clark
Larry Clark, an American photographer documents lives lived by
young adults and teenagers. His first book ‘Tulsa’ was published in
1971 and he has published 3 other books since. They’re all showing
sex, drugs and guns. The images in his first book , was a book
containing photographs he shot whilst he was in his twenties, with
his friends. Each and everyone of his images depict his youth. A
private look into the young adults lives. Larry started to have a
wider audience after releasing his independent film in 1995 ‘Kids.
Blurb: Jo Spence
Jo Spence started off her career by being an assistant for commercial
photographers. She then, had her own agency specializing in family
portraiture, actor portfolios and weddings. Jo started to do more
documentary projects. She is more famous for her documentary project’s
on her own life. Jo started the document of her life in 1978, after she was
diagnosed with Cancer. One of the project was called was ‘Beyond the
Family Album’ . Another was ‘Cancer Shock’ and the other ‘The picture of
Health?’ this project was a response to the treatment from having cancer.
In 1990 she was diagnose with leukaemia which took her life in 1992. This
was when her last project started, entitled ‘The Final Project’.
ROOM ONE: RICHARD BILLINGHAM
ROOM TWO: SALLY MANN
ROOM THREE: LARRY CLARK
ROOM FOUR: JO SPENCE