Tish Murtha

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Tish Murtha
Tish Murtha, self-portrait, 2013 or ealier.webp
Born
Patricia Anne Murtha

(1956-03-14)14 March 1956
South Shields, England
Died13 March 2013(2013-03-13) (aged 56)
Middlesbrough, England
Education The University of Wales, Newport
Known for Photography
Style Social documentary photography
Website tishmurtha.co.uk

Patricia Anne 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.

Contents

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

Early life and education

Murtha was born on 14 March 1956 in South Shields, North East England. [4] She was the third of ten children of Irish descent, brought up in a council house in Elswick in Newcastle. [5] [6]

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. [6]

Life and work

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 poverty in the region, Murtha lived it. [5] [6] She captured the lives of her friends, family and the community around her while she was on a job scheme for the unemployed. [7] [8] [9]

This led to the then controversial exhibitions Juvenile Jazz Bands (1979) and Youth Unemployment (1981), [8] [10] which was raised as a subject of debate in the House of Commons. [11] Around this time Murtha was also commissioned to document the campaign Save Scotswood Works (1979) [8] 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. [12] 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.[ citation needed ]

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 [13] [14] showcased "a radically new picture of these two turbulent decades"; Unpopular Culture – Grayson Perry Selects from the Arts Council Collection [15] examined 70 works by 50 artists Perry describes as belonging to a period "before British art became fashionable" [16] ; 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." [17] In 2011, the group exhibition Paul Graham , Tish Murtha and Markéta Luskačová formed part of Look 11: Liverpool International Photography Festival. [18] [19]

On 13 March 2013—the day before what would have been her 57th birthday—Murtha died after suffering a sudden brain aneurysm. [5]

Personal life

Murtha was a vegetarian and held left-wing political views, which informed her lifelong focus on working-class communities in north-east England. [20] [21] She had a daughter, Ella, whom she named after jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald. [22] Murtha raised Ella as a single mother. [20]

Legacy

Posthumously, Murtha's work was included in the group exhibitions True/Grit - A Celebration of Northern Realism (2013) [8] , For Ever Amber (2015). [23] [24] and Childhoods - 1977 to 2016 (2016). [25]

Paul Reas and Lulu Preece at University of South Wales began scanning the Tish Murtha archive, [26] which contains thousands of previously unseen images. Ella Murtha became the custodian and promoter of her mother's archive and legacy. Ella published the book Youth Unemployment through Bluecoat Press in November 2017 after a successful Kickstarter campaign. [26]

Ella was also involved in the 2023 documentary film Tish . [20] [21] Tish, directed by Paul Sng, opened Sheffield DocFest on 14 June 2023. [27]

A number of Murtha's images were used as the artwork for Sam Fender's album People Watching. [28]

Publications

Books collecting Murtha's Work

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. ↑ Café Royal's page about Newport Tip 1978 is here.
  2. ↑ Café Royal's page about Newport Doc Photo Class of '78 is here.
  3. ↑ Café Royal's page about The Queen's Silver Jubilee Newport 1977 is here.
  4. ↑ Photoworks' page for Issue 10 is here.
  5. ↑ Wombat's page about Portfolio No. 24 is here
  6. ↑ The Photographers' Gallery page about Volume 4, Number 2 is here

References

  1. ↑ Falconer, Karen. "For ever Amber: Britain's answer to Magnum present life under a lens for marginalized communities of the North-East" . The Independent. Archived from the original on 21 June 2022. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  2. ↑ O'Hagan, Sean (11 May 2008). "Before all the shouting started". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  3. ↑ Savage, Jon (23 March 2008). "Tories, turmoil and tank tops". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  4. ↑ Tish Murtha: Works 1976–1991, The Photographers Gallery, London, 2018
  5. 1 2 3 Murtha, Glenn (12 June 2015). "That's me in the picture: Glenn Murtha, 17, leaping out of a window in Newcastle, 1979". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  6. 1 2 3 Mulhall, James. "Powerful images of Irish in Britain to go on display in Newcastle". The Irish Post. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  7. ↑ "Tish Murtha's Photographs of Newcastle's West End, 1970s". British Culture Archive. 2 October 2018. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Side Gallery - True/Grit Exhibition Information / Tish Murtha". Scribd. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  9. ↑ "Side Gallery & The AmberSide Collection". www.amber-online.com. Archived from the original on 12 October 2013. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  10. ↑ Mellor, David Alan. "Tish Murtha: Youth Unemployment in the West End of Newcastle". Photoworks via EBSCO HOST Connection. Archived from the original on 19 April 2016. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  11. ↑ "Part of the debate in the House of Commons, 18th February 1981". www.theyworkforyou.com. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  12. 1 2 "The Photographers' Gallery Exhibition History, 1971 - Present" (PDF). The Photographers' Gallery. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 March 2016.
  13. 1 2 3 "No Such Thing As Society: Photography In Britain 1968-1987". British Council. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  14. 1 2 "No Such Thing as Society - FOTO8". FOTO8. 14 March 2008. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  15. 1 2 "Unpopular Culture - Grayson Perry Selects from the Arts Council Collection". Southbank Centre. 26 June 2012. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  16. 1 2 3 "Unpopular Culture - Grayson Perry Selects from the Arts Council Collection". Southbank Centre. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  17. 1 2 3 4 "Observadores - Fotógrafos Da Cena Britânica Desde 1930 Até Hoje". British Council. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
  18. 1 2 "Look 11 Liverpool International Photography Festival First Year Guide" (PDF). Look.[ permanent dead link ]
  19. 1 2 "Look 11: International Photography Festival". www.liverpoolbaltictriangle.co.uk. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  20. 1 2 3 Quinn, Anthony (25 October 2023). "Tish review – a haunting portrait of a driven working-class photographer". The Arts Desk. Retrieved 30 July 2025.
  21. 1 2 Living North (2023). "How a New Documentary is Paying Tribute to Trailblazing Photographer Tish Murtha". Living North. Retrieved 30 July 2025.
  22. ↑ Jones, Jonathan (30 March 2021). "Wasteland wanderer: Tish Murtha, the Tyneside daughter with a camera". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 July 2025.
  23. 1 2 Cripps, Charlotte. "Social documentary: the working class and marginalised communities of The North East" . The Independent. Archived from the original on 21 June 2022. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  24. 1 2 "Amber exhibition captures 50 years of life in North East". BBC News. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
  25. 1 2 Whetstone, David (23 September 2016). "Side Gallery, a unique window on the world, is reopening after a £1.1m refurbishment". Newcastle Evening Chronicle. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  26. 1 2 "Kickstarter Campaign". Ella Murtha. Accessed 24 April 2017
  27. ↑ Bradshaw, Peter (14 June 2023). "Tish review – gripping portrait of a passionate photographer of Austerity Britain". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 23 June 2023.
  28. ↑ DACS (25 February 2025). "Tish Murtha's evocative photography features across Sam Fender's album artwork and merchandise". DACS. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  29. ↑ "No Such Thing As Society: Photography In Britain 1968-1987". Southbank Centre. 26 June 2012. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  30. ↑ "Murtha, Tish - Arts Council Collection". Arts Council. Archived from the original on 22 September 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  31. ↑ "About the AmberSide Collection". Amber Online. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  32. ↑ "For Ever Amber: documenting the everyday lives of people in England's North-East". UK National Commission for UNESCO. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  33. ↑ "Tish Murtha - Person - National Portrait Gallery". www.npg.org.uk. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
  34. ↑ Moroz, Sarah (27 June 2018). "This Working Class Photographer Documented Her Community in Industrial England". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  35. ↑ "Tish Murtha/Alex Prager review – a Hitchcockian shock of grit and glitz". The Guardian. 14 June 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  36. ↑ "Snapshot: 'Tish Murtha: Works 1976-1991'". www.ft.com. 1 June 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  37. ↑ "England 78-81". www.fkwbh.de. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  38. ↑ "6 photos to see at the new 'London Nights' exhibition". Time Out London. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  39. ↑ "London Nights: exploring the capital after dark – in pictures". The Guardian. 23 April 2018. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  40. ↑ Spence, Rachel (17 May 2018). "Powerhouse festival of northern art". Financial Times. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
  41. ↑ Whetstone, David (11 May 2018). "What if they'd built a deck over the Tyne? One question raised by Baltic's Idea of North exhibition". nechronicle. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
  42. ↑ "Documentary photography stars in the Distinctly show". British Journal of Photography. 15 August 2018. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
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