‘Is Anybody Listening’- Open Eye Gallery ~ Craig Easton.

Craig Easton’s ‘Is Anybody Listening’ exhibition.

‘Is anybody Listening’, is a project developed by Craig Easton and is a touring exhibition, which personally was viewed in Liverpool’s Open Eye Gallery. This exhibition presents Bank Top and Thatcher’s Children which are both award-winning collections of photographs which challenge stereotypes of the north.

Bank Top

Bank Top is a collection of images, in collaboration with writer and poet Abdul Aziz Hafiz, which researches into the misrepresentation of the north. This project in particular focuses on a town in England called Blackburn which is notoriously ‘known’ and described as a segregated community. To capture these images, Easton took his large format camera out in the streets of Blackburn, where he was visible and caused curiosity. This urged people to ask him what he was doing, through conversation Easton to build a trusting relationship with these people before photographing them which was reflected in the exhibition.

When walking around this space, the atmosphere of the exhibition felt slow, causing people to slow down and view the images in such detail, partly due to the size of the images. This was effective as it reflected the idea that Easton had spent time photographing these people as you can sense they felt comfortable around the camera due to the relationship he had built with them beforehand. The process of him talking to them previous to the pictures being taken has been reflected within his imagery and created a beautiful outcome.

With collaboration with local Abdul Aziz Hafiz, his poem ‘Do you SEE me? What do YOU see’, introduces the exhibition and is featured in his photo book Bank Top.

Image from the Open Eye Gallery.

Thatcher’s Children

Thatcher’s children, which was exhibited in the upstairs of the space, is a longitudinal project which began in 1992 and continued in 2016-2020. This project explores the poverty and economic hardship in the north of England, that has been experienced by the same family over three-generations.

At the beginning of this project, in 1992, Easton created this idea by photographing six children and two parents living in a hostel for the homeless in Blackpool. Progressing to 2016, Easton reconnected with the same families and the families the six children had created. With this, Easton was able to explore the effects poverty can have, and how this can be transferred through generations. Furthermore he examines social deprivation and how this has been failed to improve through the governments policies.

Contrary to presentation of the Bank Top collection, Thatcher’s Children was exhibited in a smaller room with considerably smaller prints. Interestingly, in the upstairs of the space the walls were painted blue which interestingly brought a sense of chaos to the pictures which deemed complimentary as the pictures were reflecting what seemed like a chaos busy life. Furthermore, due to the images being smaller you had to get closer to exam them, which was interesting as it was like peering in at them getting to see a fragment of their lives.

Thatcher’s Children Exhibited in the upstairs of the Open Eye Gallery - Liverpool.

Overall, Thatcher’s children was exhibited entirely different from Bank Top, which may have been due to the size of the rooms, however this was effective for both pieces. Furthermore even though they were exhibited differently, they are both focusing on the north and how people perceive this.