I recently watched a documentary about photographer Sirrka-Liisa Konttinen who photographed the town of Byker in Newcastle over 35 years ago. She was invited back to the area to photograph the changes and reconnect with some of her original subjects.
The first major difference she encounters is that the rows of Victorian terrace houses have all been demolished to make way for a new housing estate. With the new architecture comes a shift in the areas culture. A mainly white area 35 years ago has become very multicultural.
Byker became a hub for asylum seekers and at the time of this programme 28 different languages were spoken in Byker. The changes to the area render it unrecognisable from the images Konttinen first produced 35 years ago. One of her subjects who was photographed originally and on Konttinen’s return described old Byker as “a white world”.
The reason Konttinen’s images are so interesting is their sense of the unguarded. She spends a long time getting to know her subjects, giving them constant feedback on her project. This approach seems to build up a trust between photographer and subject. The result is an image that looks truthful, natural and convincing.
To understand the bond between photographer and subject I took this quote by Konttinen.
“In the beginning my overwhelming feeling when I was photographing people they were making a gift of it to me. By the end of the project I also began to get feeling that it was me that was making the gift.”
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