Like you've never been away
November 3, 2010 4:53 PM Subscribe
Photographer Paul Trevor has documented many aspects of British life during the course of his career.
In 1975, he went to Liverpool as part of the 'Survival Programmes' project, that looked at inner city deprivation. He is putting on an exhibition of these photos as part of Liverpool's 2011 International Photography festival.
'The pictures were made in the city in 1975. I am very keen to find the people who I photographed then, with a view to possibly photographing them again.'
These are fantastic. So evocative.
I was in Liverpool earlier this year, for nearly a week, and was surprised at how much I liked it, and how familiar it seemed. (Not that I expected to hate it, but I was amazed at my feeling of "Oh wow! Liverpool is *awesome*!) It reminds a lot of Baltimore - a port city, an industrial city, a city slowly climbing out of a kind of acidic urban decay. I saw so many construction cranes there that I wondered how there could be any left in the rest of the UK. Thanks for the post.
posted by rtha at 6:34 PM on November 3, 2010 [3 favorites]
I was in Liverpool earlier this year, for nearly a week, and was surprised at how much I liked it, and how familiar it seemed. (Not that I expected to hate it, but I was amazed at my feeling of "Oh wow! Liverpool is *awesome*!) It reminds a lot of Baltimore - a port city, an industrial city, a city slowly climbing out of a kind of acidic urban decay. I saw so many construction cranes there that I wondered how there could be any left in the rest of the UK. Thanks for the post.
posted by rtha at 6:34 PM on November 3, 2010 [3 favorites]
These are fantastic.
You beat me to those very words.
posted by StickyCarpet at 9:00 PM on November 3, 2010
You beat me to those very words.
posted by StickyCarpet at 9:00 PM on November 3, 2010
The years of big kecks and no shirt. I must be about the same age as the kids in that first one and it all seems a bit familiar. Will look forward to seeing any follow-ups if the subjects do get in touch.
posted by Abiezer at 10:49 PM on November 3, 2010
posted by Abiezer at 10:49 PM on November 3, 2010
Great pics, but why is it always the poor folk? Whenever I see these collections of gritty, grimy people living in gritty, grimy conditions I can't help feeling like it's a trip to the zoo for the better-off. And I say that as someone who came from the sort of background and place depicted in these photos. I realise that's definitely accentuating the negative but I do always get that slightly uncomfortable feeling. Maybe it's the memories the photos evoke that make me uncomfortable more than the pics themselves.
posted by Decani at 2:03 AM on November 4, 2010
posted by Decani at 2:03 AM on November 4, 2010
This is very strange. In 1975 I was 13 years old and living in Liverpool in these photos. Yesterday I was (I now realize) paying for the most expensive taxi ride in the world.
posted by Major Tom at 3:29 AM on November 4, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Major Tom at 3:29 AM on November 4, 2010 [1 favorite]
Oh, thanks for this - I meant to look this up when I heards abouyt it on the radio.
Whenever I see these collections of gritty, grimy people living in gritty, grimy conditions I can't help feeling like it's a trip to the zoo for the better-off.
I completely see what you mean - nothing worse than poverty tourism - but you'd be surprised how many people in this country don't believe this kind of deprivation exists. Someone once argued with me seriously that 'there's no such thing as child deprivation in this country - if someone's living 'below the breadline', that means they're starving, and that doesn't happen'; another friend from an affluent city said 'Families aren't badly off here, because there's working family tax credits.' A lot of people in the South have never visited Liverpool and think it's a city full of people in tracksuits stealing hubcaps (whatever those are) - same with Glasgow. It's sad, because both cities are similar, interesting places, with a big strong mix of working-classness and religion and Celticness and musical tradition.
posted by mippy at 5:24 AM on November 5, 2010
Whenever I see these collections of gritty, grimy people living in gritty, grimy conditions I can't help feeling like it's a trip to the zoo for the better-off.
I completely see what you mean - nothing worse than poverty tourism - but you'd be surprised how many people in this country don't believe this kind of deprivation exists. Someone once argued with me seriously that 'there's no such thing as child deprivation in this country - if someone's living 'below the breadline', that means they're starving, and that doesn't happen'; another friend from an affluent city said 'Families aren't badly off here, because there's working family tax credits.' A lot of people in the South have never visited Liverpool and think it's a city full of people in tracksuits stealing hubcaps (whatever those are) - same with Glasgow. It's sad, because both cities are similar, interesting places, with a big strong mix of working-classness and religion and Celticness and musical tradition.
posted by mippy at 5:24 AM on November 5, 2010
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Cuddling a warm girl and smelling stale perfume
A hot summers day and sticky black tarmac
Feeding ducks in the park and wishing you were far away"
posted by Bighappyfunhouse at 5:02 PM on November 3, 2010