Tish Murtha Explained

Tish Murtha
Birth Name:Patricia Anne Murtha
Birth Date:1956 3, df=yes
Birth Place:South Shields, England
Death Place:Middlesbrough, England
Nationality:British
Education:The University of Wales, Newport
Known For:Photography
Style:Social documentary photography

Patricia Anne "Tish" Murtha (14 March 1956 – 13 March 2013) was a British social documentary photographer best known for documenting marginalised communities,[1] social realism[2] and working class life[3] in Newcastle upon Tyne and the North East of England.

The posthumously published books of her work are Youth Unemployment (2017), Elswick Kids (2018) and Juvenile Jazz Bands (2020).

Background and education

Murtha was born on 14 March 1956 in South Shields, North East, England. In 1976, aged 20, she left home to study at the School of Documentary Photography at The University of Wales, Newport, set up by Magnum Photos member David Hurn. After graduating in 1978, she returned to Newcastle and set out to document “marginalized communities from the inside”. Unlike other photographers who came to document social poverty in the region at the time, Murtha didn’t just document it, she actually lived it as the third of ten children of Irish descent,[4] brought up in a council house in Elswick in Newcastle. She captured the lives of her friends, family and the community around her while she was on a job scheme for the unemployed.[5] [6]

Career

This led to the then controversial exhibitions Juvenile Jazz Bands (1979) and Youth Unemployment (1981),[7] [8] which was raised as a subject of debate in the House of Commons.[9] Around this time Murtha was also commissioned to document the campaign Save Scotswood Works (1979) and provided photographs for the THAC (Tyneside Housing Aid Centre) publications Do you know what this is doing to my little girl? - Home Truths in the Year Of The Child (1979) and Burying The Problem (1980), highlighting social poverty on Tyneside.

In 1982, Murtha moved to London, where she worked on London By Night (1983) along with Bill Brandt, Brian Griffin and Peter Marlow. The group exhibition documenting Soho and the commercial sex industry, was exhibited in The Photographers’ Gallery, London.[10] Murtha lived in the capital for five years, working on commission for Edward Arnold Publishers. She also photographed emerging celebrities Julian Clary and Philip Herbert and took the first headshots of a young Declan Donnelly upon her return to the north east in 1987.

Between 2008 and 2012, Murtha's work was selected for three Arts Council / British Council Collection exhibitions; No Such Thing as Society: Photography in Britain 1967–1987: From the Arts Council Collection and the British Council Collection[11] [12] [13] showcased "a radically new picture of these two turbulent decades"; Unpopular Culture – Grayson Perry Selects from the Arts Council Collection[14] examined 70 works by 50 artists Perry describes as belonging to a period "before British art became fashionable"[15] ; Observadores - Fotógrafos Da Cena Britânica Desde 1930 Até Hoje (Observers: British Photography and the British Scene) was "the first exhibition ever staged in Brazil to chart a course through British photography in modern times."[16]

In 2011, the group exhibition Paul Graham, Tish Murtha and Markéta Luskačová formed part of Look 11: Liverpool International Photography Festival.[17]

Posthumously, Murtha's work was included in the group exhibitions True/Grit - A Celebration of Northern Realism (2013), For Ever Amber (2015).[18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] and Childhoods - 1977 to 2016 (2016).

Death and legacy

On 13 March 2013—the day before what would have been her 57th birthday—Murtha died after suffering a sudden brain aneurysm.[24]

She is survived by her daughter, Ella, and grandson, Dexter.

Paul Reas and Lulu Preece at University of South Wales began scanning the Tish Murtha archive,[25] which contains thousands of previously unseen images. Her daughter Ella published the book Youth Unemployment through Bluecoat Press in November 2017 after a successful Kickstarter campaign.[26]

A documentary film about Murtha's life titled Tish, directed by Paul Sng, opened Sheffield DocFest on 14 June 2023.[27]

Publications

Publications by Murtha

Zines by Murtha

Books and exhibition catalogues with contributions by Murtha

Other publications

Collections

Murtha's work is held in the following public collections:

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

Group exhibitions

Notes

  1. News: For ever Amber: Britain's answer to Magnum present life under a lens for marginalized communities of the North-East. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220621/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/photography/for-ever-amber-britains-answer-to-magnum-present-life-under-a-lens-for-marginalized-communities-of-10360498.html . 21 June 2022 . subscription . live. Falconer. Karen. The Independent. en-GB. 2016-02-20.
  2. News: Before all the shouting started. The Guardian. 2008-05-11. 2016-02-20. 0261-3077. en-GB. Sean. O'Hagan.
  3. News: Tories, turmoil and tank tops. The Guardian. 2008-03-23. 2016-02-20. 0261-3077. en-GB. Jon. Savage.
  4. News: Powerful images of Irish in Britain to go on display in Newcastle. Mulhall. James. The Irish Post. en-GB. 2016-02-20.
  5. Web site: 2018-10-02. Tish Murtha's Photographs of Newcastle's West End, 1970s. 2022-01-25. British Culture Archive. en-US.
  6. Web site: Side Gallery & The AmberSide Collection. www.amber-online.com. 2016-03-29. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20131012083011/http://www.amber-online.com/sections/side-gallery. 2013-10-12.
  7. Web site: Side Gallery - True/Grit Exhibition Information / Tish Murtha. Scribd. 2016-02-21.
  8. Web site: Tish Murtha: Youth Unemployment in the West End of Newcastle. https://web.archive.org/web/20160419212820/http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/42831689/tish-murtha-youth-unemployment-west-end-newcastle. dead. 2016-04-19. Mellor. David Alan. Photoworks via EBSCO HOST Connection. 2016-04-10.
  9. Web site: Part of the debate in the House of Commons, 18th February 1981.. www.theyworkforyou.com. 2016-02-20.
  10. Web site: The Photographers' Gallery Exhibition History, 1971 - Present. The Photographers' Gallery. https://web.archive.org/web/20160314224349/http://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/images/Archive_ExhList_553915bb54c21.pdf. 2016-03-14. dead.
  11. Web site: No Such Thing As Society: Photography In Britain 1968-1987. Southbank Centre. 2016-03-29.
  12. Web site: No Such Thing As Society: Photography In Britain 1968-1987. British Council. 2016-02-20.
  13. Web site: No Such Thing as Society - FOTO8. FOTO8. 14 March 2008 . en-US. 2016-04-14.
  14. Web site: Unpopular Culture - Grayson Perry Selects from the Arts Council Collection. Southbank Centre. 2016-03-29.
  15. Web site: Unpopular Culture - Grayson Perry Selects from the Arts Council Collection. Southbank Centre. 2016-03-29.
  16. Web site: Observadores - Fotógrafos Da Cena Britânica Desde 1930 Até Hoje. British Council. 2016-02-25.
  17. Web site: Look 11 Liverpool International Photography Festival First Year Guide. Look.
  18. Web site: For Ever Amber: documenting the everyday lives of people in England's North-East. UK National Commission for UNESCO. 2016-04-05.
  19. News: Social documentary: the working class and marginalised communities of The North East. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220621/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/photography/social-documentary-the-working-class-and-marginalised-communities-of-the-north-east-10342552.html . 21 June 2022 . subscription . live. Cripps. Charlotte. The Independent. en-GB. 2016-03-30.
  20. News: Amber exhibition captures 50 years of life in North East. en-GB. 2016-03-15. BBC News.
  21. News: The beauty of the everyday. 2016-03-29. BBC News.
  22. Web site: A culture preserved in Amber. British Film Institute. 2016-03-29.
  23. News: Newcastle's Amber Collective unveils its first ever major retrospective of photographs. Hodgson. Barbara. 2016-03-29. Newcastle Evening Chronicle.
  24. News: That's me in the picture: Glenn Murtha, 17, leaping out of a window in Newcastle, 1979. The Guardian. 2015-06-12. 2016-02-20. 0261-3077. en-GB. Glenn. Murtha.
  25. "Kickstarter Campaign". Ella Murtha. Accessed 24 April 2017
  26. "Kickstarter Campaign"
  27. News: Bradshaw . Peter . 2023-06-14 . Tish review – gripping portrait of a passionate photographer of Austerity Britain . en-GB . The Guardian . 2023-06-23 . 0261-3077.
  28. Café Royal's page about Newport Tip 1978 is here.
  29. Café Royal's page about Newport Doc Photo Class of '78 is here.
  30. Café Royal's page about The Queen's Silver Jubilee Newport 1977 is here.
  31. Photoworks' page for Issue 10 is here.
  32. Wombat's page about Portfolio No. 24 is here
  33. The Photographers' Gallery page about Volume 4, Number 2 is here
  34. Web site: Murtha, Tish - Arts Council Collection. Arts Council. 2016-02-20. https://web.archive.org/web/20150922063618/http://www.artscouncilcollection.org.uk/artist/murtha-tish. 2015-09-22. dead.
  35. Web site: About the AmberSide Collection. Amber Online. 2016-04-05.
  36. Web site: 2018-06-16. Tish Murtha - Person - National Portrait Gallery. www.npg.org.uk.
  37. Web site: 2021-06-22. Tish Murtha comes to The Photographers' Gallery. British Journal of Photography.
  38. News: Sarah. Moroz. 2021-06-22. This Working Class Photographer Documented Her Community in Industrial England. The New York Times. 27 June 2018. 0362-4331.
  39. Web site: AnOther. 2021-06-22. The Forgotten Photographer Who Captured Britain's Social Crises. 14 June 2018. AnOther.
  40. Web site: 2021-06-22. Tish Murtha/Alex Prager review – a Hitchcockian shock of grit and glitz. 14 June 2018. The Guardian.
  41. Web site: 2021-06-22. 1 June 2018. Snapshot: 'Tish Murtha: Works 1976-1991'. www.ft.com.
  42. Web site: 2020-06-28. England 78-81. www.fkwbh.de.
  43. News: Side Gallery, a unique window on the world, is reopening after a £1.1m refurbishment. Whetstone. David. 2016-09-23. Newcastle Evening Chronicle. 2016-09-23.
  44. Web site: Look 11: International Photography Festival. www.liverpoolbaltictriangle.co.uk. 2016-03-29.
  45. News: 2018-05-10. 6 photos to see at the new 'London Nights' exhibition. Time Out London.
  46. News: 2018-05-10. London Nights: exploring the capital after dark – in pictures. The Guardian. 23 April 2018. 0261-3077. www.theguardian.com.
  47. Web site: Spence . Rachel . 2018-05-17 . Powerhouse festival of northern art . 2018-06-14 . Financial Times.
  48. News: David. Whetstone. 2018-06-14. What if they'd built a deck over the Tyne? One question raised by Baltic's Idea of North exhibition. nechronicle. 11 May 2018.
  49. Web site: 2019-06-17. Documentary photography stars in the Distinctly show. 15 August 2018. British Journal of Photography.

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