In Flagrante

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Released in 1988 and showing communities reeling from the effects of de-industrialisation, it was immediately hailed as a classic – and read as a statement against Margaret Thatcher, the Prime Minister most identified with the process of de-industrialisation. The removal of both Killip’s introductory text, and the accompanying essay by John Berger and Sylvia Grant, embraces the ambiguities and contradictions within the imagery, presenting an unadorned narrative allowing the photographs to speak for themselves. The fifty photographs of In Flagrante serve as the foundation of this exhibition, which includes maquettes, contact sheets, and work prints to reveal the artist’s process.

I went back three years ago to where the beach was and it’s so shocking because it’s not there,” says Killip. In Flagrante is a book of fifty photographs by one of Europe's most outstanding and uncompromising photographers.

She has also curated exhibitions for institutions such as The Photographers Gallery and Lianzhou Foto Festival. Join photographer Chris Killip, whose work is featured in the exhibition, as he discusses the creation of his groundbreaking photobook In Flagrante (1988) and the decision to republish it decades later. Pick up a multimedia player free of charge in the Museum Entrance Hall or use your own smartphone on our free GettyLink Wi-Fi. By the time this particular man reaches the top of the stairs, his individual legs will feel too tired for this particular concept to bloom.

It seems a dry take on images that were once interpreted as deeply political, but Killip doesn’t see it that way.Drop by as photographer Luther Gerlach explores the art and science of early photography while demonstrating a variety of photographic processes and materials including large-format cameras, lenses, and interactive camera obscuras. The impact of these images is both immediate and enduring, creating one of the most authoritative and intense bodies of work produced this decade. And second, he’s always believed that simply recording peoples’ lives has value – so that they’re acknowledged in the here and now, and so that future generations can understand what they did and who they were.