Quayside (1979)
Part of Amber’s late 1970s documentation of the area of Newcastle, then under threat of redevelopment, where the collective was based and had just opened Side Gallery.
The photographic project was undertaken jointly by Konttinen and Graham Smith, also a member of the collective at the time. The photographs seen here are Sirkka’s contribution. The exhibition, a booklet and a film was produced – drawing on the aesthetics established by the photographs. The campaign led to Amber’s Murray Martin being given a contact in the Department of the Environment, who would list any building recommended by an action committee. Martin formed a clandestine action committee of two with Brian Mills the owner of Newcastle Bookshop and secured the listing of almost all the buildings on Newcastle’s Quayside.
Amber Films, 16 mins, 1979
Watch excerpt
