Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen
Encyclopedia
Life and work
Born in Myllykoski (KouvolaKouvola
Kouvola is a town and municipality in southeastern Finland. It is located northeast of the capital, Helsinki.The city has a population of and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is ....
) Finland in 1948, Konttinen studied photography in London in the 1960s, and cofounded the Amber collective, which moved to Newcastle
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
.
From 1969 Konttinen lived in Byker
Byker
Byker is an inner city electoral ward in the city of Newcastle upon Tyne in Tyne and Wear, England. It is in the east of the city, south of the Heaton area and north of St Peter's. Byker Metro station serves the area.The area also contains the Byker Wall estate. The population of the ward is...
, and for seven years photographed and interviewed the residents of this area of terraced houses until her own house was demolished. She continued to work there for some time afterwards. This resulted in the book Byker, which in David Alan Mellor
David Alan Mellor
David Alan Mellor is a British curator and professor of and writer on art.David Mellor — as he was called before he wanted to avoid confusion with the politician of the same name — studied art at Sussex University under Quentin Bell...
's words "bore witness to her intimate embeddedness in the locality". In 1980 she became the first photographer since the Cultural Revolution
Cultural Revolution
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...
to have her work exhibited by the British Council
British Council
The British Council is a United Kingdom-based organisation specialising in international educational and cultural opportunities. It is registered as a charity both in England and Wales, and in Scotland...
in China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
.
Konttinen's next project was a study of girls attending dance schools in North Shields
North Shields
North Shields is a town on the north bank of the River Tyne, in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside, in North East England...
, their mothers, and the schools. The book Step by Step came from this.
Three years of photographing the beach between Seaham
Seaham
Seaham, formerly Seaham Harbour, is a small town in County Durham, situated south of Sunderland and east of Durham. It has a small parish church, St Mary the Virgin, with a late 7th century Anglo Saxon nave resembling the church at Escomb in many respects. St Mary the Virgin is regarded as one of...
and Hartlepool
Hartlepool
Hartlepool is a town and port in North East England.It was founded in the 7th century AD, around the Northumbrian monastery of Hartlepool Abbey. The village grew during the Middle Ages and developed a harbour which served as the official port of the County Palatine of Durham. A railway link from...
resulted in the series "Coal Coast".
Konttinen later returned to Byker and photographed its new residents in colour.
Exhibitions
- "Documents of the North East" (with Graham SmithGraham Smith (photographer)__NoTOC__Graham Smith is a photographer from Middlesbrough, England, who was particularly active in photographing Middlesbrough and the northeast of England in the 1970s and 1980s....
, James Cleet, and Robert Carling). Side Gallery (Newcastle), 1977. - "Photographs from the Beaches" (with Markéta LuskačováMarkéta LuskacováMarkéta Luskačová is a Czech photographer known for her series of photographs taken in Slovakia, Britain and elsewhere. Considered one of the best Czech social photographers to date, since the 1990s she has photographed children in Czech Republic, Slovakia, and also Poland.- Biography :In 1968...
). Side Gallery (NewcastleNewcastle upon TyneNewcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
), 1978. - "North Tyneside" (with Isabella Jedrzejczyk, Markéta LuskačováMarkéta LuskacováMarkéta Luskačová is a Czech photographer known for her series of photographs taken in Slovakia, Britain and elsewhere. Considered one of the best Czech social photographers to date, since the 1990s she has photographed children in Czech Republic, Slovakia, and also Poland.- Biography :In 1968...
and Graham SmithGraham Smith (photographer)__NoTOC__Graham Smith is a photographer from Middlesbrough, England, who was particularly active in photographing Middlesbrough and the northeast of England in the 1970s and 1980s....
). Side Gallery (Newcastle), 1981. - "Byker". Side Gallery (Newcastle), 1983.
- "Cedarwood Woman". Side Gallery (Newcastle), 1988.
- "Step by Step". Side Gallery (Newcastle), 1989; touring, 1990, 1992.
- "The Writing in the Sand". Side Gallery (Newcastle), 1991; touring 1993.
- "Dream On" (with Steve Conlan and Richard Grassick). Side Gallery (Newcastle), 1992.
- "My Finnish Roots". Side Gallery (Newcastle) and touring, 1993, 1994.
- "Quayside" (with Graham SmithGraham Smith (photographer)__NoTOC__Graham Smith is a photographer from Middlesbrough, England, who was particularly active in photographing Middlesbrough and the northeast of England in the 1970s and 1980s....
). Side Gallery (Newcastle) and touring, 1993. - "Writing in the Sand". Side Gallery (Newcastle), 2000.
- "Coalfield Stories" (group). Side Gallery (Newcastle), 2002–2003.
- "Coal Coast". Baltic Centre for Contemporary ArtBALTIC Centre for Contemporary ArtThe Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art is an international centre for contemporary art located on the south bank of the River Tyne alongside the Gateshead Millennium Bridge in Gateshead, North East England, United Kingdom...
(GatesheadGatesheadGateshead is a town in Tyne and Wear, England and is the main settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead. Historically a part of County Durham, it lies on the southern bank of the River Tyne opposite Newcastle upon Tyne and together they form the urban core of Tyneside...
), 2003. - "Coalfield Stories" (with John Davies and Simon Norfolk). Photofusion, London, 2005–2006.
- "Byker Revisited". Side Gallery (Newcastle), 2009.
Awards and recognition
- Grand Prix at the Melbourne International Film FestivalMelbourne International Film FestivalThe Melbourne International Film Festival is an acclaimed annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1951, making it one of the oldest in the World....
(1992) for the film The Writing in the Sand. - Prix du Documentaire, Cinéma du RéelCinéma du RéelCinéma du Réel is an international documentary film festival organized by the BPI-Bibliothèque publique d'information in Paris and was founded in 1978. The festival presents about 200 films per year in several sections by experienced documentary directors as well as first timers...
, Paris (1992) for the film The Writing in the Sand - On 23 May 2011, Konttinen's photography of the northeast of England from 1969 to 2009, and Amber's related films, became one of twenty items and collections to join the UK Memory of the World RegisterUK Memory of the World RegisterThe UK Memory of the World Register, on which work started in 2009 and whose first inscriptions were made in 2010, is a list of individual documents and documentary collections of particular importance to the United Kingdom; it is the national complement to UNESCO's international Memory of the...
.
Books
- Byker. London: Jonathan Cape, 1983. ISBN 0224021095. Newcastle: Bloodaxe Books, 1985. ISBN 0906427908.
- Step by Step. Newcastle: Bloodaxe Books, 1989. ISBN 1852240598.
- Writing in the Sand: On the Beaches of North East England. Stockport: Dewi Lewis, 2001. ISBN 1899235973.
- Écrit dans le sable: sur les plages du Nord-Est de l'Angleterre. Paris: Schultz, 2000. ISBN 9187370301.
- Skrivet i sanden: på sandstränderna i nordöstra England. Stockholm: Schultz Forlag, 2000. ISBN 9187370263.
- Hiekkaan kirjoitettu: Koillis-Englannin rannoilla. Oulu: Kustantamo Pohjoinen, 2000. ISBN 9517493401.
- The Coal Coast. Newcastle: Amberside, 2003. ISBN 0951205811.
- Byker Revisited. Newcastle: Northumberland University Press, 2009. ISBN 9781904794424.