John Laidlaw lived alone close to
the colliery at Fishburn, County Durham. He was a bit of a local character,
known for his old-fashioned clothes and bad stammer, but although he preferred
the isolated life he was apparently on good terms with the local youth.
Robin Grierson lived nearby and
produced a portfolio of photographs of John, which were published as a small, limited
edition (750 copies) photo book. The work was exhibited at the original
Photographers’ Gallery (London) in 1992, four years after John’s tragic death
(he was killed in a road accident) and the closure of the Fishburn Colliery.
I first came across a couple of
images of John at the “Uncertain States 2015” exhibition (see my review). A
photograph of John consulting a map (Image 1), which I originally and
incorrectly thought was a double exposure, caught my eye and made me want to
find out more about Robin Grierson’s work.
Image 1 (Robin Grierson)
Unfortunately, my research turned
up little. Robin Grierson is still very active as a photographer, but his work
now consists very largely of editorial portraiture. His submission of a
fragment of his original work for the 2015 “Uncertain States” exhibition hints
at a revival of interest in John Laidlaw but the photo book is unavailable and has
largely been forgotten – as has John. However, I did find a review of the work as part of a blog by the photographer Ken Grant (http://www.landscapestories.net/dreambooks/205-2014-ken-grant?lang=en),
who cited it as one of his ten favourite photo books and provided a few
additional photographs (see Images 2-4) from his own copy of the work. Grant describes
the book as “an elegant, astute, human and emotive piece of work” and “an
example of photography with soul”. He also clears up one mystery: the apparent
double exposure shown in Image 1 is in fact a “straight” photograph of John
Laidlaw, taken through a window, with the reflections producing an eerie
effect. Somehow the over-laying of his face with the clouds intensifies his
studious pose, despite the loss of detail. A similar effect is seen in Image 4,
where John Laidlaw’s hand is seen through glass.
Image 2 (Robin Grierson)
Image 3 (Robin Grierson)
Image 4 (Robin Grierson)
Grierson goes beyond portraits to
feature personal possessions, such as Laidlaw’s single bed (Image 2). All of the
photographs come together to produce a portfolio that Grant concludes is “a touching and
fitting celebration of a single man.” Although I can only relate my own
observations to a handful of photographs it seems that Grierson’s work has
much to teach me about producing images that capture the spirit and soul in the
life of a single individual. I hope to be able to capture this soul, albeit in
a melancholy way, in documenting my relationship with my mother. Of course I must try
to do this in a very different way to Grierson, because my mother has been dead
for 9 years and all I have at my disposal are standard, archival family
portraits. My challenge will be to merge these with other images and reflect
upon my own thoughts and feelings when my mother was still alive, in order to
try to capture the spirit of the subject matter and the period that I am describing, as a series of photographs.
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