"Flash into the face of Mom and Dad. A British family-album so cool that I can see and hear what goes on between frames. No room for judgement or morality. Reality and no pretence. Richard Billingham is the son and he knows - his family." (Robert Frank, quoted on the back cover of the book)
Billingham's most celebrated body of work, Ray's a laugh, depicted his family life. As Billingham explains:
"I was living in this tower block; there was just me and him. He was an alcoholic, he would lie in the bed, drink, get to sleep, wake up, get to sleep, didn't know if it was day or night. But it was difficult to get him to stay still for more than say 20 minutes at a time so I thought that if I could take photographs of him that would act as source material for these paintings and then I could make more detailed paintings later on. So that's how I first started taking photographs."
