Richard Billingham

"Ray's a Laugh"

All above images are copyright of Richard Billingham, taken from his series "Ray's a Laugh"

1990-1996

http://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/richard_billingham.htm

"This book is about my close family. My father Raymond is a chronic alcoholic. He doesn’t like going outside and mostly drinks homebrew. My mother Elizabeth hardly drinks but she does smoke a lot. She likes pets and things that are decorative. They married in 1970 and I was born soon after. My younger brother Jason was taken into care when he was 11 but is now back with Ray and Liz again. Recently he became a father. Ray says Jason is unruly. Jason says Ray’s a laugh but doesn’t want to be like him. " Richard Billingham, Ray's a Laugh

Billingham is an English photographer, born in Cradley Heath, Birmingham in 1970. The above images were taken between 1990 and 1996 and formed his series "Ray's a Laugh", a documentation of his family life, particularly focusing on his Alcoholic father, his mother and their volatile relationship. What first attracted me to these images was their controversial subject. What we normally expect to see from a family documentary series is a snapshot series of happy, family life- something you would see perhaps in a family photo album. These kind of images would reignite happy memories for their viewer. Billingham's images are very different to this. They instead hold connotations of danger, violence and a lack of money or low quality living standards. This to me is very strange, I understand that for some viewers, these images may well bring back memories of their own childhood, but I doubt it would be a childhood they would want to remember. This makes me question why Billingham wanted these images shown. Was it more about making a stand? Perhaps he wanted people to realize the deprivation that people go through and the hard family life that some children have to face- to bring it to the forefront and give others a better understanding. It could also be a way of coming to terms with his own childhood and upbringing, as photography can also be used as a way of dealing with personal issues. Rosy Martin's use of Phototherapy (staging photographs and using them to deal with deep rooted personal issues) is an example of this.

Despite the issue of a controversial topic, I do like these images. I personally find work that deals with personal issues extremely interesting, in part because it will always be different to other things you have seen because not one person can go through exactly the same situation or experience the exact same feelings therefore the work will differ from photographer to photographer. I also like the work because of it's snapshot quality. It isn't perfectly framed for an aesthetic view. It isn't there to please the viewer visually, but more I would say, to make them question it, to make them want to know more. The contrast and vivid colours within the image are also appealing. They tie the work together as a series and make it stand out. These photographs were actually taken on out of date 35mm film which has created these candid, bright and saturated prints. These images remind me of the earlier work of Nan Goldin in which she also uses a gritty, snapshot style to deal with difficult personal and cultural issues.

This work has helped me with ideas and thinking about how I will produce my own photographs because I too want to focus on a documentation of my family life. Although I don't want to convey such harsh issues within my work, I would like to, like Billingham, document everyday life, using it as a way of getting to know my grandparents and understanding more about them. The reason I looked at Billingham's work is because I want to understand how different photographer's deal with this task. It is very difficult to put the focus of your camera on your own life and your own family without making it too personal so that viewers can understand or relate to it. I think this is one issue that I would raise with Billingham's work. It is very subjective, and therefore only a certain type of viewer would be able to interpret and understand it- someone who has been through a similar situation. It therefore closes the viewer off and makes them feel separate to the work. I personally want my viewer to be able to interpret my images in their own way and use them to re-ignite personal memories and emotions.