Richard Billingham
Richard Billingham is a documentary photographer. I discovered him when I was researching for my intimate life project. This for me was the best work produced my Billingham. The work was personal to him as it was his father was the main subject in his photographs. The book published was called ‘Frank’s a laugh’ . Billingham’s father was an alcoholic and was not in a correct mental state. The sarcastic name of the book itself show s Billingham’s lack of respect for his father as he obviously hasn’t been around to be a role model for his son. I really get a sense of realism from these photographs I can imagine myself being in the room and feeling very uncomfortable. Unlike the work of Walker who creates fantasy worlds Billingham shows it how it is. In a way I like the confirmation of being put in the moment and imagining how his parents live but on the other hand I feel am I too close?
Richard Billingham (quote) :
'my father raymond is a chronic alcoholic.he doesn't like going outside,
my mother elizabeth hardly drinks,
but she does smoke a lot.
she likes pets and things that are decorative.
they married in 1970 and I was born soon after.
my younger brother jason was taken into care when he was 11,
but now he is back with ray and liz again.
recently he became a father.
'dad was some kind of mechanic,
but he's always been an alcoholic.
it has just got worse over the years.
he gets drunk on cheap cider at the off license.
he drinks a lot at nights now and gets up late.
originally, our family lived in a terraced house,
but they blew all the redundancy money and,
in desperation, sold the house.
then we moved to the council tower block,
where ray just sits in and drinks. that's the thing about my dad,
there's no subject he's interestedin, except drink.
''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.'
After reading this I felt very emotional and thought what it would be like to live like that. After reading this I also understood Billingham’s attitude towards his father and living situation and I admire him for sharing a subject which must have been hard to reveal. Billingham refers to his parents as Ray and Liz almost as if he doesn’t even associate them with him. I even feel sorry for Ray and Liz and sympathise for them because they have nothing the work is very emotional.
In the first photograph ‘Liz’ is building a puzzle. I love everything about this photograph the juxtaposition, composition and point of view of the photograph. I love how her dress blends in with the puzzle pieces in the box is visually captivating. In Billingham’s quote he mentions his mother liking decorative things I think these ‘nick knacks’ make these photograph and help to emphasises their bizarre way of living. Her tattoos also give a quirky feel to the composition. To an audience these sights may be shocking but to Billingham it was normal he had been a witness to it his whole life so to him it didn’t seem like such a shock.
The second photograph to me sheds a ray of light on the series. Although they live a troubled life the couple have each other which is clearly shown in this photograph. It seems alcohol runs Rays life as in every photograph of him there is drink or a glass I find this really hard to deal with and I feel for Billingham who never had a chance to bond with his father. I love how everything in the room contrasts there’s so much to look at! I like the angle of this photograph and how Billingham has included the corner of the room, the diagonals work nicely.
The third photograph is more domestic and shows an insight to how Billingham’s childhood was. Liz is shouting at Ray with a clenched fist which shows that tries to control him. Ray looks oblivious and not in the correct mental state most of all he looks ashamed of himself. There is a male figure behind them which could be Billingham’s brother. It looks as if he has his hands on his head which could indicate he is used to these arguments and is fed up. This photograph was taken on the same day as the second photograph which shows the audience how troubled their life is. I like how Liz dresses up in dresses I decode this as her efforts to still feel like a young women. In conclusion, if I’m honest, I first looked at this series as something to talk about until I read into Billingham’s life then my view on the work changed. I think the series is fantastic, the best he’s ever done, and I will always have great admiration for him opening a part of his life to the world.
In the first photograph ‘Liz’ is building a puzzle. I love everything about this photograph the juxtaposition, composition and point of view of the photograph. I love how her dress blends in with the puzzle pieces in the box is visually captivating. In Billingham’s quote he mentions his mother liking decorative things I think these ‘nick knacks’ make these photograph and help to emphasises their bizarre way of living. Her tattoos also give a quirky feel to the composition. To an audience these sights may be shocking but to Billingham it was normal he had been a witness to it his whole life so to him it didn’t seem like such a shock.
The second photograph to me sheds a ray of light on the series. Although they live a troubled life the couple have each other which is clearly shown in this photograph. It seems alcohol runs Rays life as in every photograph of him there is drink or a glass I find this really hard to deal with and I feel for Billingham who never had a chance to bond with his father. I love how everything in the room contrasts there’s so much to look at! I like the angle of this photograph and how Billingham has included the corner of the room, the diagonals work nicely.
The third photograph is more domestic and shows an insight to how Billingham’s childhood was. Liz is shouting at Ray with a clenched fist which shows that tries to control him. Ray looks oblivious and not in the correct mental state most of all he looks ashamed of himself. There is a male figure behind them which could be Billingham’s brother. It looks as if he has his hands on his head which could indicate he is used to these arguments and is fed up. This photograph was taken on the same day as the second photograph which shows the audience how troubled their life is. I like how Liz dresses up in dresses I decode this as her efforts to still feel like a young women. In conclusion, if I’m honest, I first looked at this series as something to talk about until I read into Billingham’s life then my view on the work changed. I think the series is fantastic, the best he’s ever done, and I will always have great admiration for him opening a part of his life to the world.
It was called 'Rays a Laugh'
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