A Photographic Life - 22: Plus Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen

In episode 22 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed considering unexpected events, inspirations and situations, the responsibility of Instagram takeovers and the importance of collaboration.  Plus this week photographer Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen takes on the challenge of supplying Grant with an audio file no longer than 5 minutes in length in which she answer’s the question ‘What Does Photography Mean to You?’ Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen is a Finnish photographer who has worked in Britain since the 1960s. Intending to pursue photography as a career, she was apprenticed to a fashion photographer in Helsinki for a year before studying photography in London in the 1960s, and co-founding the Amber Collective in Newcastle in 1969. From 1969 Konttinen lived in Byker, and for seven years photographed and interviewed the residents of this area of terraced houses until her own house was demolished. This work resulted in the book Byker. Konttinen's next project was a study of girls attending dance schools in North Shields, their mothers, and the schools, resulting in the book Step-by-Step. The book was an influence for the film Billy Elliot. www.amber-online.com/collection/byker The image discussed (Girl on a Spacehopper, 1971. From the series Byker, 1970's) in this podcast can currently be seen in the Women by Women exhibition at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead until the 30th of September, 2018. http://baltic.art/whats-on/exhibitions/idea-of-north