Ken Grant
Babysitting, Birkenhead, 1989
Vintage Gelatin Silver Print
40.64 x 30.48 cms
16 x 12 ins
Series: 1. The Close Season and related works (1989-99)
9154
Provenance
Acquired directly from the artistExhibitions
'The 80s: Photographing Britain' at Tate Britain: 21 November 2024 - 5 May 2025
From the series 'Close Season'. This is one of 2 remaining vintage prints of this image from the series 'Close Season'. This image is in the series though not included...
From the series 'Close Season'.
This is one of 2 remaining vintage prints of this image from the series 'Close Season'. This image is in the series though not included in the original publication.
Ken Grant's critical photographs document the Liverpudlian economic landscape. He has rarely strayed far from the coast in his work, and has consequently created a specific archive of the economic and social climate of the coastline. His images are a critical fusion between the dark and pessimistic aesthetic of Chris Killip with the cropped and often disorientating points of view used by other photographers of the period such as Anna Fox and Martin Parr. Grant captures mundane moments of social life but includes details such as cheaply branded bear, aging wallpaper and scenes economically induced boredom to show the contrast of his community's experience of Thatcher's regime to the growing materialism and hyper-real wealth of London. This helps to contextualise the political unrest and social dissatisfaction of the UK as a whole during this cultural transformation.
This is one of 2 remaining vintage prints of this image from the series 'Close Season'. This image is in the series though not included in the original publication.
Ken Grant's critical photographs document the Liverpudlian economic landscape. He has rarely strayed far from the coast in his work, and has consequently created a specific archive of the economic and social climate of the coastline. His images are a critical fusion between the dark and pessimistic aesthetic of Chris Killip with the cropped and often disorientating points of view used by other photographers of the period such as Anna Fox and Martin Parr. Grant captures mundane moments of social life but includes details such as cheaply branded bear, aging wallpaper and scenes economically induced boredom to show the contrast of his community's experience of Thatcher's regime to the growing materialism and hyper-real wealth of London. This helps to contextualise the political unrest and social dissatisfaction of the UK as a whole during this cultural transformation.