Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen (b. 1948) is a Finnish-British photographer who has lived and worked in the UK since the 1960s. Based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne since 1969, Konttinen co-founded the Amber Film and Photography Collective.
Girl on a Spacehopper, Byker, 1971. © Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, courtesy AmberSide / L. Parker Stephenson Photographs, NY.
This exhibition will revisit Konttinen’s career, spanning over 50 years, through some of her most memorable and important projects including Byker, Coal Coast, Step by Step and Byker Revisited.
Byker (1969–1983) is a modern classic of photography. From 1969 Konttinen lived in Byker, photographing and interviewing the people who lived there until her own house was demolished to make way for the Byker Wall Estate. This black-and-white series documents the devastating impact of Newcastle’s East End redevelopment on the local community, alongside moments of joy and escapism on the nearby beaches of Whitley Bay and Tynemouth.
Between 2003 and 2009, Konttinen would return to the same area and photograph the new residents in colour in Byker Revisited. Konttinen’s photography and films, are inscribed in the UNESCO UK Memory of the World Register as being of ‘outstanding national value and importance to the United Kingdom'.
