Chris Steele-Perkins

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Christopher Horace Steele-Perkins (born 28 July 1947) is a British photographer and member of Magnum Photos, best known for his depiction of Africa, Afghanistan, England, and Japan.

Life and career

Steele-Perkins was born in Rangoon, Burma in 1947 to a British father and a Burmese mother; but his father left his mother and took the boy to England at the age of two.[1] He went to Christ's Hospital and for one year studied chemistry at the University of York before leaving for a stay in Canada. Returning to Britain, he joined the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, where he served as photographer and picture editor for a student magazine. After graduating in psychology in 1970 he started to work as a freelance photographer, specializing in the theatre, while he also lectured in psychology.

By 1971, Steele-Perkins had moved to London and become a full-time photographer, with particular interest in urban issues, including poverty. He went to Bangladesh in 1973 to take photographs for relief organizations;[2] some of this work was exhibited in 1974 at the Camerawork Gallery (London). In 1973–74 he taught photography at the Stanhope Institute and the North East London Polytechnic.[2]

In 1975, Steele-Perkins joined the Exit Photography Group with the photographers Nicholas Battye and Paul Trevor, and there continued his examination of urban problems: Exit's earlier booklet Down Wapping[3] had led to a commission by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation to increase the scale of their work, and in six years they produced 30,000 photographs as well as many hours of taped interviews.[4] This led to the 1982 book Survival Programmes. Steele-Perkins' work included depiction from 1975 to 1977 of street festivals, and prints from London Street Festivals were bought by the British Council and exhibited with Homer Sykes' Once a Year and Patrick Ward's Wish You Were Here; Steele-Perkins' depiction of Notting Hill has been described as being in the vein of Tony Ray-Jones.[5]

Steele-Perkins became an associate of the French agency Viva in 1976, and three years after this, he published his first book, The Teds, an examination of teddy boys that is now considered a classic of documentary and even fashion photography.[6] He curated photographs for the Arts Council collection, and co-edited a collection of these, About 70 Photographs.

In 1977 Steele-Perkins made a short detour into "conceptual" photography, working with the photographer Mark Edwards to collect images from the ends of rolls of films taken by others, exposures taken in a rush merely in order to finish the roll. Forty were exhibited in "Film Ends".[7]

Work documenting poverty in Britain took Steele-Perkins to Belfast, which he found to be poorer than Glasgow, London, Middlesbrough, or Newcastle, as well as experiencing "a low-intensity war".[8] He stayed in the Catholic Lower Falls area, first squatting and then staying in the flat of a man he met in Belfast. His photographs of Northern Ireland appeared in a 1981 book written by Wieland Giebel. Thirty years later, he would return to the area to find that its residents had new problems and fears; the later photographs appear within Magnum Ireland.[8]

Steele-Perkins photographed wars and disasters in the third world, leaving Viva in 1979 to join Magnum Photos as a nominee (on encouragement by Josef Koudelka), and becoming an associate member in 1981 and a full member in 1983.[9] He continued to work in Britain, taking photographs published as The Pleasure Principle, an examination (in colour) of life in Britain but also a reflection of himself. With Philip Marlow, he successfully pushed for the opening of a London office for Magnum; the proposal was approved in 1986.[10]

Steele-Perkins made four trips to Afghanistan in the 1990s, sometimes staying with the Taliban, the majority of whom "were just ordinary guys" who treated him courteously.[11] Together with James Nachtwey and others, he was also fired on, prompting him to reconsider his priorities: in addition to the danger of the front line:

. . . you never get good pictures out of it. I've yet to see a decent front-line war picture. All the strong stuff is a bit further back, where the emotions are.[12]

A book of his black and white images, Afghanistan, was published first in French, and later in English and in Japanese. The review in the Spectator read in part:

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These astonishingly beautiful photographs are more moving than can be described; they hardly ever dwell on physical brutalities, but on the bleak rubble and desert of the country, punctuated by inexplicable moments of formal beauty, even pastoral bliss . . . the grandeur of the images comes from Steele-Perkins never neglecting the human, the individual face in the great crowd of history.

— Philip Hensher[13]

The book and the travelling exhibition of photographs were also reviewed favorably in the Guardian, Observer, Library Journal, and London Evening Standard.[14]

Steele-Perkins served as the President of Magnum from 1995 to 1998.[15] One of the annual meetings over which he presided was that of 1996, to which Russell Miller was given unprecedented access as an outsider and which Miller has described in some detail.[16]

With his second wife the presenter and writer Miyako Yamada (山田美也子), whom he married in 1999,[17] Steele-Perkins has spent much time in Japan, publishing two books of photographs: Fuji, a collection of views and glimpses of the mountain inspired by Hokusai's Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji; and Tokyo Love Hello, scenes of life in the city. Between these two books he also published a personal visual diary of the year 2001, Echoes.

Work in South Korea included a contribution to a Hayward Gallery touring exhibition of photographs of contemporary slavery, "Documenting Disposable People", in which Steele-Perkins interviewed and made black-and-white photographs of Korean "comfort women". "Their eyes were really important to me: I wanted them to look at you, and for you to look at them", he wrote. "They're not going to be around that much longer, and it was important to give this show a history."[18] The photographs were published within Documenting Disposable People: Contemporary Global Slavery.[19]

Steele-Perkins returned to England for a project by the Side Gallery on Durham's closed coalfields (exhibited within "Coalfield Stories"[20]); after this work ended, he stayed on to work on a depiction (in black and white) of life in the north-east of England, published as Northern Exposures.[21]

In 2008 Steele-Perkins won an Arts Council England grant for "Carers: The Hidden Face of Britain", a project to interview those caring for their relatives at home, and to photograph the relationships.[22] Some of this work has appeared in The Guardian,[23] and also in his book England, My England, a compilation of four decades of his photography that combines photographs taken for publication with much more personal work: he does not see himself as having a separate personality when at home.[24] "By turns gritty and evocative," wrote a reviewer in The Guardian, "it is a book one imagines that Orwell would have liked very much."[25]

Steele-Perkins has two sons, Cedric, born 16 November 1990, and Cameron, born 18 June 1992. With his marriage to Miyako Yamada he has a stepson, Daisuke and a granddaughter, Momoe.

Exhibitions

Solo

Group or shared

As co-curator

  • "Young British Photographers". Photographers' Gallery (London), 1975. (Co-curator, with Mark Edwards.)[80]
  • "Film Ends". Travelling in Britain, 1977. (Co-selector, with Mark Edwards.)[7]

Film

  • Video Diaries: Dying for Publicity. 1993, 70 minutes. Steele-Perkins reflects on his reporting of and role in scenes of suffering.[81]

Collections

Awards

Publications

Photobooks by Steele-Perkins

  • The Teds. London: Travelling Light/Exit, 1979. ISBN 0-906333-05-9. With text by Richard Smith.
  • The Pleasure Principle. Manchester: Cornerhouse Books, 1989. ISBN 0-948797-50-9.
  • Afghanistan. London: Westzone Publishing, 2000. ISBN 1-903391-13-X.[95]
    • Afghanistan. Paris: Marval, 2000. ISBN 2862342971. (French)
    • Afuganisutan: Shashinshū (アフガニスタン 写真集) / Afghanistan. Tokyo: Shōbunsha, 2001. ISBN 4794965168. (Japanese)
  • Fuji: Images of Contemporary Japan. New York: Umbrage; London: Turnaround, 2002. ISBN 1-884167-12-8.
  • Echoes. London: Trolley, 2003. ISBN 1-904563-11-2.
  • Tokyo Love Hello. Paris: Editions Intervalles, 2006. ISBN 2916355057. Photographs taken in Tokyo, 1997–2006. With an introduction by Donald Richie, texts and captions in French and English.
  • Northern Exposures: Rural Life in the North East. Newcastle upon Tyne: Northumbria University Press, 2007. ISBN 1-904794-20-3. Black and white photographs taken from 2002 and after.
  • England, My England: A Photographer's Portrait. Newcastle upon Tyne: Northumbria Press, 2009. ISBN 1-904794-38-6. Photographs 1969–2009, combining the documentary and the personal.[96]
  • Fading Light: Portraits of Centenarians. Alnwick: McNidder & Grace, 2012. ISBN 978-0-85716-032-4.[97]
  • A Place in the Country. Stockport: Dewi Lewis, 2014. ISBN 978-1-907893-62-9.

Other book contributions

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2

CD-ROM

  • Za Wākusu (ザ・ワークス) / The Works. Tokyo: Media Towns, 1999. 180 photographs by Steele-Perkins, from 1980 to 1994, of Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya, Namibia, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zaire and Zimbabwe.

Archives

References

  1. ↑ Unless otherwise noted, biographical information comes from the profile of Steele-Perkins in Contemporary Authors vol. 211 (Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2003; ISBN 0-7876-6635-1), pp. 378–81.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 William Manchester et al., In Our Time: The World as Seen by Magnum Photographers (New York: Norton, 1989; ISBN 0-393-02767-8), p.453.
  3. ↑ The booklet states that "Exit is a collective of four photographers: Nicholas Battye, Diane 'Hank' Olson, Alex Slotzkin and Paul Trevor."
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Tales of Survival", British Journal of Photography, 10 January 2007. Accessed 2009-03-23.
  5. ↑ David Alan Mellor, No Such Thing as Society: Photography in Britain 1967–1987: From the British Council and the Arts Council Collection (London: Hayward Publishing, 2007; ISBN 978-1-85332-265-5), p.52. Mellor talks of the "international touring exhibition England at Play; this may have been an alternative English title for Il Regno Unito si diverte and it is the subtitle of Ward's book Wish You Were Here.
  6. ↑ Documentary: Page about The Teds, Magnum Photos. Accessed 2009-03-23. Fashion: Max Décharné, "Max Décharné's top 10 London fashion books", The Guardian, 22 November 2005. Accessed 2009-03-15.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 Profile in Contemporary Authors vol. 211.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "War and Peace: Life in Belfast after the Troubles", Times (London), 12 July 2008. Accessed 2010-03-12.
  9. ↑ Russell Miller, Magnum: Fifty Years at the Front Line of History (New York: Grove, 1998; ISBN 0-8021-3653-2), p.268.
  10. ↑ Miller, Magnum, pp. 268–70.
  11. ↑ "Witness: The Taliban are seen as extremists, but photographer Chris Steele-Perkins has captured their humanity", Scotland on Sunday, 23 September 2001; quoted in the Contemporary Authors vol. 211 profile of Steele-Perkins.
  12. ↑ Quoted by Miller, Magnum, p.304.
  13. ↑ Philip Hensher, The Spectator, 19 May 2001; quoted in the Contemporary Authors vol. 211 profile.
  14. ↑ Review of Afghanistan by John F. Riddick in the Library Journal, December 2001; Nick Redman, "9 to 5, Afghan Style," Evening Standard, 6 April 2001; Jonathan Jones, "The Guide Thursday: Exhibitions: Chris Steele-Perkins", The Guardian, 17 August 2000. Each of the three is quoted in the Contemporary Authors vol. 211 profile. Review by Jason Burke, The Observer, 13 May 2001.
  15. ↑ "Chris Steele-Perkins", Magnum Photos (London: Thames & Hudson, 2008; ISBN 0-500-41094-1), unpaginated (opp. pl. 65).
  16. ↑ Miller, Magnum, pp. vii–viii, 3–15.
  17. ↑ "Kyapa-shō kameraman ga shuzai", Hibakusha ga egaita genbaku no e o machikado ni kaesu kai, n.d. (Japanese) Biography for the 2009 Prix Pictet shortlist. Both accessed 2010-01-06.
  18. ↑ Quoted in Farah Nayeri, "'Comfort Women', exploited maids show slavery's face in photos", Bloomberg News, 8 October 2008. Accessed 2010-01-11.
  19. ↑ For bibliographic detail see the list of publications. Samples can be seen in Chris Steele-Perkins, "Comfort Women", The Drawbridge, no. 13 (Summer 2009). Accessed 2010-01-13.
  20. ↑ Exhibition notice, Side Gallery. Accessed 2009-03-19.
  21. ↑ Chris Steele-Perkins, foreword to Northern Exposures.
  22. ↑ "Grants for the Arts: December 2008 Awards" (PDF file), Arts Council England. Accessed 2010-01-13.
  23. ↑ Chris Steele-Perkins, "The Hidden Face of Caring", The Guardian, 14 November 2009. Accessed 2010-01-13.
  24. ↑ Gemma Padley, "Being English: Chris Steele-Perkins, Magnum Photographer", Amateur Photographer, 19–26 December 2009, pp. 25–30. An interview with Steele-Perkins primarily about the book England, My England.
  25. ↑ Sean O'Hagan, "Something old, something new: The year's best photography books", The Guardian, 28 December 2009. Accessed 2010-01-12.
  26. ↑ 26.00 26.01 26.02 26.03 26.04 26.05 26.06 26.07 26.08 26.09 26.10 26.11 "Chris Steele-Perkins", author page at Northumbria University website. Accessed 2009-03-16.
  27. ↑ "Art Exhibitions", New York, 13 May 1991. (At Google Books.) Accessed 2009-03-27.
  28. ↑ List of 1992 exhibitions, Visa pour l'image. Accessed 2009-03-23.
  29. ↑ List of exhibitions in 1999, PGI. Accessed 2009-03-23.
  30. ↑ List of 1999 exhibitions, Visa pour l'image. Accessed 2009-03-23.
  31. ↑ Exhibition notice, Side Gallery. Accessed 2009-03-17.
  32. ↑ Preview/interview, BBC News Online, 7 August 2000. Accessed 2009-04-04.
  33. ↑ "Art Highlights 2002", Guardian Online. Accessed 2009-03-18.
  34. ↑ Crefft issue 102 (May 2002). Accessed 2009-03-09.
  35. ↑ Short review, York Evening Press, 16 August 2002. Accessed 2009-03-18.
  36. ↑ List of past exhibitions, Magnum Photos Japan. Accessed 2009-03-17.
  37. ↑ Short review in the New York Times. Accessed 2009-03-17.
  38. ↑ Exhibition notice, Stephen Daiter Gallery. Accessed 2009-03-17.
  39. ↑ Exhibition announcement, Magnum Photos Japan. Accessed 2009-03-17. News release, Nihon Hewlett-Packard, 27 July 2005. (Japanese) Accessed 2010-02-09.
  40. ↑ Exhibition notice, Side Gallery. Accessed 2009-03-17.
  41. ↑ Exhibition announcement, Host Gallery. Accessed 2009-03-25.
  42. ↑ Exhibition preview at Culture 24. Accessed 2009-04-4.
  43. ↑ "Aosta, Mountain Photo Festival", Regione Autonoma Valle d'Aosta. Accessed 2009-03-25.
  44. ↑ "Chris Steele-Perkins: England My England", Kings Place Gallery. Pascal Wyse, "Photographer Chris Steele-Perkins's view of England" (slideshow narrated by Steele-Perkins), Guardian, 30 June 2010. Lillian He, "Review: Art at Kings Place - Sally Soames and Chris Steele-Perkins", Londonist, 29 June 2010. All accessed 2010-07-01.
  45. ↑ Exhibition notice, Third Floor Gallery. Joni Karanka, "For Love of the Game", artcardiff.com, 2 June 2010. Both accessed 2010-07-01.
  46. ↑ "Galleries Inc at Central Square North – Chris Steele-Perkins: Northern Exposures", NewcastleGateshead. Robert Clark, "Chris Steele-Perkins, Newcastle upon Tyne"; in "This week's new exhibitions", The Guardian, 15 January 2011. Both accessed 2011-01-15.
  47. ↑ Exhibition notice, Open Eye Gallery. Accessed 2011-11-01.
  48. ↑ Alan Sykes, "Portrait photographs of the 100-up club", Guardian, 18 October 2012. Accessed 2013-01-21.
  49. ↑ Exhibition record at the Wayback Machine (archived May 12, 2006), British Council. Accessed 2010-01-11. This does not specify the place(s) of exhibition, but the OPAC of the libraries of the Province of Prato lists a publication titled Il Regno Unito si diverte that specifies Milan. Accessed 2009-03-28.
  50. ↑ 50.0 50.1 "The Other Britain Revisited: Photographs from New Society", Victoria and Albert Museum, 2010. Accessed 2010-05-02.
  51. ↑ Press release for a second exhibition in 2005 (PDF file, 625 kB), ICP.
  52. ↑ Derek Bishton, "New image for the image-makers", Electronic Telegraph (Daily Telegraph), 15 December 1999. Accessed 2010-01-21.
  53. ↑ Exhibition notice, Staley-Wise Gallery. Accessed 2009-03-30.
  54. ↑ "Chris Steele-Perkins / Dettaglio evento", Artkey. (Italian) Accessed 2010-01-11.
  55. ↑ Exhibition notice, Rhubarb Exhibitions. Accessed 2009-03-30.
  56. ↑ List of exhibitions by Chris Steele-Perkins, photography-now.com. Accessed 2009-03-29.
  57. ↑ Exhibition notice, The Guardian. Accessed 2009-03-29.
  58. ↑ Brochure about photography exhibitions by Fnac across Italy, website of the Commune of Verona. List of exhibitions by Chris Steele-Perkins, photography-now.com. Both accessed 2009-03-29.
  59. ↑ Press release (PDF file), Houston Museum of Natural Science, 2006. Accessed 2009-03-27.
  60. ↑ Exhibition notice, the Photographers' Gallery. Accessed 2010-01-07.
  61. ↑ Exhibition notice, Centre Georges Pompidou. Accessed 2009-03-26.
  62. ↑ List of exhibitions at Ujazdów Castle, photography-now.com. Accessed 2009-03-27.
  63. ↑ Press release (PDF file, 625 kB), ICP. List of exhibitions by Chris Steele-Perkins, photography-now.com. Both accessed 2009-03-29.
  64. ↑ Exhibition notice, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium. Accessed 2009-03-27.
  65. ↑ Exhibition leaflet (PDF file), SeaBritain 2005. Accessed 2009-03-26. Serena Davies, "Viewfinder: Serena Davies discusses Surfers by Chris Steele-Perkins", Daily Telegraph, 26 March 2005. Accessed 2010-01-21.
  66. ↑ "I Shot Norman Foster", the Architecture Foundation exhibition notice. Accessed 2009-03-26.
  67. ↑ Simon Bainbridge, "Shooting Norman Foster", British Journal of Photography, 23 November 2005. Accessed 2010-02-05.
  68. ↑ 68.0 68.1 "After Image: Social Documentary Photography in the 20th century", NGV News, 11 October 2006. Accessed 2009-03-28.
  69. ↑ Stuart Franklin, "Tokyo in Passing", Magnum Photos, 15 March 2007. Accessed 2009-03-26. Also exhibition notice (Japanese), Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography. Accessed 2009-03-27.
  70. ↑ Exhibition notice (PDF file), jolonghurst.com. Accessed 2010-01-21.
  71. ↑ Press release for the exhibition, British Council. Accessed 2009-03-27.
  72. ↑ Press release, Holocaust Museum Houston. Accessed 2010-01-20.
  73. ↑ Exhibition notice, Holocaust Museum Houston. Accessed 2010-01-20.
  74. ↑ Exhibition notice, Magnum Photos. Accessed 2010-01-08.
  75. ↑ Exhibition notice, Southbank Centre. Accessed 2010-01-11.
  76. ↑ Simon Bainbridge, "Brits Abroad", British Journal of Photography, 13 August 2010. "British Documentary Photography", Photomonth Kraków. Both accessed 25 February 2011.
  77. ↑ Sean O'Hagan, "Mass Photography: Blackpool Through the Camera", Guardian, 31 July 2011. "6/08/2011 — 5/11/2011: Mass Photography: Blackpool through the camera", Grundy Art Gallery. Both accessed 31 July 2011.
  78. ↑ Exhibition notice, Shizuoka City Tokaido Hiroshige Museum of Art. (Japanese) Accessed 6 November 2013.
  79. ↑ Exhibition notice, Shift. Accessed 6 November 2013.
  80. ↑ Manchester et al., In Our Time, p.453. The Contemporary Authors vol. 211 profile says Steele-Perkins "was part of" this show but does not specify his role.
  81. ↑ Description of the film, Film Society of Lincoln Center, 2007. Accessed 2009-03-28.
  82. ↑ 82.0 82.1 "Survival Programmes: Exit Photography Group" (reference code GB 0097 SURVIVAL) at AIM25. Accessed 2009-03-17.
  83. ↑ Catalogue search results, V&A website. Accessed 2010-01-07
  84. ↑ Olivier Laurent, "Tate doubles its photography collection after donation", British Journal of Photography, 2 May 2012. Accessed 1 July 2012.
  85. ↑ Chris Steele-Perkins within the NPG database. Accessed 2009-03-6.
  86. ↑ 86.0 86.1 Biography for the 2009 Prix Pictet shortlist. Accessed 2010-01-06.
  87. ↑ "La collection photographique de la Fnac : Images entre histoire et poésie", exhibition notice for la Conciergerie, photographie.com, 2004. (French) Accessed 2009-03-23.
  88. ↑ "World press photo 1988", Zoom 80 (May 1988): 36–42. Abstract here in ProQuest.
  89. ↑ "1987, Christopher Steele-Perkins, Individual awards, Oskar Barnack Award", World Press Photo. Accessed 22 May 2014.
  90. ↑ Manchester et al., In Our Time, p.453.
  91. ↑ 91.0 91.1 "The Coast Exposed: Photographers". National Maritime Museum. Accessed 2009-03-15.
  92. ↑ Biography of Steele-Perkins at Amber Online. Accessed 2009-03-28.
  93. ↑ "Daniel Meadows awarded RPS Fellowship", Cardiff School of Journalism, Media, and Cultural Studies, 22 September 2008. Accessed 2009-03-28.
  94. ↑ "Chris Steele-Perkins: Mount Fuji", Prix Pictet. Accessed 1 June 2014.
  95. ↑ "Afghanistan", New Yorker, 1 October 2001. Accessed 2009-03-15.
  96. ↑ Phil Coomes, "Mixing personal and professional", Viewfinder, BBC News, 10 November 2009. Accessed 2010-01-21.
  97. ↑ "Oldest person in Devon features in new book", Western Morning News, 21 July 2012. Accessed 2012-08-11.
  98. ↑ For comments on Steele-Perkins' work, see John Petrenko, "Chris Steele-Perkins", John Petrenko Photography and Art Blog, 2 November 2009. Accessed 2010-01-21.
  99. ↑ Andrew Baker, "Sportsbooks: Don't spill your coffee on United", Daily Telegraph, 30 November 2006. Accessed 2010-01-21.

External links

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