This is a modest but welcome glimpse of the extensive archive of the Amber Film & Photography Collective at the Farrell Centre. Since the Side Gallery, hopefully temporarily, closed its doors almost two years ago, the partnership with the Farrell Centre ties in with their current themes and is an important reminder of a world-renowned cultural resource within the North East.
The atrium on the ground floor of the Farrell Centre has been given over to a range of large format prints by photographers such as the, ever-synonymous with Amber, Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen but also Peter Fryer, John Davies, Richard Grassick, Mik Critchlow to name a few.
Films
There are also screenings of three of Amber’s short documentaries: Six to Midnight (1974) offering a day in the life of Newcastle’s bustling daytime and nighttime economy. Launch (1973) with powerful montages of the finishing build stages and the subsequent celebrations beneath the haunting presence of an oil tanker towering over Wallsend terraces. And Quayside (1979) which drifts around the largely deserted district, under threat of redevelopment, a film punctuated by lone figures of a certain age staring into the middle distance.
A portrayal of working class life
Since 1968 Amber sought to give authentic representation of working class life. These works capture specific moments in time of the communities portrayed, as well as the industrial and urban landscapes of the late 20th century. The work is unflinching in documenting the realities of life in North East England. Brutal industrial (and post-industrial) landscapes, the inevitability of change and the impact invisible market forces have on a human scale. These themes are often tempered by the warmth of family and community but overall the work is about place. The relationship between the individual and where they live and work. How the individual shapes the urban landscape and how it shapes them.
A language of regional identity
You are left to wonder where the balance can be struck with these powerful renditions of a North East that largely no longer exists. Amber was about collaboration and a working methodology that, as with all documentary, raises questions about authorship, representation and Grierson’s “creative treatment of actuality”. But Amber pushed the traditions of documentary realism even further. Their work has been criticised as parochial and sentimental, but is undoubtedly important. Can its language of regional identity and class struggles still resonate with a new audience that is several generations beyond the region’s industrial heritage? In these times of social, economic and cultural upheaval in many ways it is more relevant than ever.
Amber: Documenting Place is at The Sir Terry Farrell Building
Eldon Place Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RD United Kingdom from 20 February – 1 June 2025 Admission Free
