[Sombre, resonant music]
[Tish] "High levels of unemployment
"have always been
a hard and constant feature
"of life in the west end of Newcastle."
- [Tish's voice overlaps]
- "...our society has no solutions..."
"My work depends
on an investment of time..."
"...intensified as it is
"by the government's
extreme free market philosophy..."
- "...the Demon Snapper..."
- "...events and experience
"that shape our lives."
- "...the confused fantasies..."
- "...diverse community...
"I've been documenting
the human effects of unemployment..."
"...the consequences
of which will be enormous..."
"Young people, already experiencing
the problems of adolescence..."
"The future is nevertheless
clearly discernible..."
"Dear Ella, I give you my heart."
[Shutter clicks;
Ruminative music]
[Gordon] The joy in her photographs
is incredible.
- The history of working-class people.
- [Shutter clicks]
[Ethel] She recognised, you know, beauty,
but it was usually as a means to an end.
- [Shutter clicks]
- [Chris] She was a fighter.
She wasn't going to sit still.
She fought the good fight.
[Shutter clicks]
[Mik] If you want to photograph the tribe,
you've got to be part of the tribe.
You've got to dance the same dance.
[Shutter clicks, music continues]
[Music concludes]
[Ruminative music]
[Ella] When I think of my mam,
it's always people.
[Music continues]
[Ella] She just took pictures
of what was in front of her
because she saw...
that what was in front of her,
her world and the people in it,
they needed to be seen, you'd know?
And she knew that...
with this camera...
she could capture it, show people, and...
give people a value.
You'd know, these people existed.
They mattered.
They lived. They were there.
And my mam was going to make sure
that they were seen.
[Music continues]
[Music subsides]
[Gordon] I'd seen her work
in a show in Abernathy,
and I walked around that show
and saw lots of work that I'd seen before.
- And then I saw some that I hadn't...
- [Ella chuckles]
...and that I was
really captivated by, and...
and I just thought that,
"This is different.
"I need to meet this person
and find out why."
My mam had died
and I was clearing out her stuff,
and I found this letter
- and it was from you.
- Yeah.
And you had been to meet my mam at Side,
but it was just saying
how much you'd enjoyed meeting her
and you found her honesty,
like, so refreshing.
I mean, you don't...
you don't meet many people like Tish.
I've always sort of thought
that history is so posh.
You know, it's so much about rich wealth.
Someone from that place,
genuinely recording...
and making part of history,
the lives of people,
was really important.
And there she was, doing it.
So, all of that made it
feel more imperative that her work
was actually embedded as part of a...
- a history of Britain.
- [Ella] Yeah.
[Gordon] A history
of working-class people.
I have no idea
why Tish's work wasn't better known.
Those photographs just felt really honest,
and I just couldn't work out
how someone had managed it.
- Yeah.
- You'd know what I mean?
Yeah, you just needed to know who and why.
Yeah, how's this person...
where've they come from to do this?
How have they got the insight
to be able to do this?
You know, grief's a horrible thing.
And at that point,
when you got in touch with me,
you were obviously, like...
- It was so raw, yeah.
- Very raw.
I have to say,
I've never seen a reaction like this.
- I've never seen somebody...
- Really?
- No, it's so driven, Ella.
- [Ella chuckles]
It's so driven, and, you know,
so, like, uh...
"Let's get this done.
Let's make this right."
- [Record crackles, "Vissi d'arte" plays]
- Vissi d'are
Vissi d'amore
Non feci mai male
Ad anima viva
Con man furiva
Quante miserie
Conobbi, aiutai.
[Music continues]
[Music concludes]
[Ella] What was it like
being Tish Murtha's little sister?
Well, for a start, she demanded that,
when the new baby came along,
it was going to be called Eileen.
No-one had any say at all?
[Eileen] Nobody had any say.
That was what was happening.
So, she would have been
two and a half? Three?
[Ella] Two and a half,
and she was already so determined.
- Yeah. Yeah, she was...
- [Ella chuckles]
Yeah.
Yeah, very, very determined.
[Ella] So, this is...
- [Eileen] Tish...
- [Ella]...Tish.
[Eileen]...me and Mark.
My brother Mark, yeah.
- [Ella] I love it.
- [Eileen] School photo!
[Ella] She was the third oldest,
wasn't she? Was she quite protective?
- [Eileen] Of the younger ones?
- [Ella] Yeah.
[Eileen] Yeah, I mean, that was her role.
That was her job, really.
I mean, there's nine months
between some of us.
[Ella] Yeah.
[Eileen] And my mother
was sort of very gentle...
- [Ella] Yeah.
- [Eileen] She was a great,
wonderful mother.
Encouraged us to be interested
in all sorts of things.
You know, interested to cultivate...
...creative and artistic things
that she'd seen in all of us,
- in all of her ten... her brood.
- [Ella chuckles]
And I can remember her buying us
things like crayons and pencils and paper,
even when she couldn't afford it.
I'd been quite close to Tish,
because we used to go on our travels.
She used to take me around with her,
and I was probably
a pain in the back-side to her,
but, when we moved to Elswick,
it was a very different...
Completely different to South Shields.
I call it
"the darkness on the edge of town"...
- [Eileen chuckles]
- ...because it was.
It was a... It was a strange world.
It had a floating population of people.
There was always arterial blood
spilled along Elswick Road,
and, you know,
sometimes it's funny, isn't it?
Your memories are black and white,
but the blood's always red.
All around us was these derelict houses.
Some of them got knocked down
and leveled,
so, there was always a wasteland
where the kids could have fires.
But it was... it was things like this
and the name of the street there,
- in all its finery.
- [Eileen chuckles]
So, you'd know the picture of you
where you're with three of the boys
and you're on the pillars
of the old church...
...and you look like statues?
[Ella] You just look like
like you just own the place.
[Ella chuckles]
[Ella] What did he make you do?
[Ella] What, even as kids?
[Ella] Yeah.
[Ruminative music]
[Music subsides]
[Eileen] We used to look in the bins.
[Ella] Have a scavenge, look for treasure.
- [Eileen] Yeah, we were proper skip-rats.
- [Ella] So, she found a camera?
Yeah, yeah.
We used to go in the old houses,
and people had just left
and there was always stuff in them.
There was encyclopedias,
some of the most amazing books
and encyclopedias.
And I think she probably got it
in one of those houses.
It was considered to be
the worst square-mile in England...
- [Ella] Bloody hell.
- ...at that time.
Often, you'd get cars driving up
and driving along beside you
and asking you, you know, to get in.
And there was lots of curious people
who were probably fine,
but you just didn't know.
And you had to learn quite quickly
and be streetwise.
So, I think she took
to carrying that camera
because you had to keep yourself safe.
You had to keep your brothers
and sisters safe.
[Ella] She always felt safer when she
had it. Even though it had no film in it.
- Yeah, that's right.
- So, when do you, like...
When do you remember her first starting
to be interested in photography
and actually having
some film in a camera
and taking photographs?
Probably about... when she was about...
...15, 16.
I remember me and her
taking photographs one weekend
of each other.
I mean, I didn't know
how it worked, particularly,
and I think Tish
was just learning, anyway,
so, we took
these photographs of each other.
That was one of the very first.
I mean, it's so damaged, but...
[Ella] It's beautiful, though.
And she must have had
access to a darkroom,
and I think Jos and Bob
had set one up in their house.
[Jos] I met Eileen first
at a kind of youth club.
She must have taken me back
for a cup of tea.
Tish must have been there.
And then they started coming up
to my house where I was a student
at Ravensworth.
I introduced her to the darkroom,
and she was... raved over it.
You know, going into a darkroom
and seeing actual photographs
appear in front of your eyes in the dark.
Well, she...
I have this,
and it says in the front of it,
"To Jos and Bob.
"Do you see what you two started
when you gave me
"the use of a camera and darkroom
and made me go to college?"
[Bob] I thought it'd be a good idea
for Tish to get formal instruction,
but she was petrified.
She was convinced
that they wouldn't take her.
- She didn't have confidence in herself.
- [Bob] No confidence, yeah.
I think we literally
turned up at the front door
and I walked in
and I said, "You're going in."
Then I left her to it.
[Dennis] Well, I'm teaching on a course
in Newcastle, at Bath Lane.
- So, what was she like?
- She was tough.
And she wasn't
going to take anything lying down.
- She was tough, she was strong.
- Yeah.
Fortunately, we had cameras
that we could lend students.
She brought some stuff to me.
"That's my mam, that's my man...
- "That's my uncle, that's my..."
- [Ella] Yeah.
[Dennis] I said, "These are fantastic,
Tish. Go do some more."
[Tender music]
[Music subsides]
[Ethel] Yeah, you know,
she recognised beauty.
But in fact, to me, the photographs
that are the ones that...
- It's the ones of childhood.
- [Ella] Yeah.
And it's to do with childhood. It's not
to do with poverty, it's not to do with...
You know, it's...
That's where the joy comes from.
Your mother wanted to learn
how to take photographs...
with a specific...
...idea in mind.
You know, she wanted to document.
She wanted a photograph to use
as evidence and proof
to make people's lives better,
or to stop injustices
and that type of thing.
She wasn't interested
in the rest of the bollocks, and...
- [Ethel chuckles]
- Dennis was subversive, shall we say.
I mean, for instance,
when we did the studio portraiture,
it was a lot more free
than it was probably meant to be.
The problem was
that the course she was on wasn't...
a course that she should have been on,
to be honest.
- [Ella] Oh. Why not?
- Because it was too...
it was too specifically commercial,
which did not include documentary.
So, I did bend the course a little bit.
- [Ella] This is from... Well, it's...
- School report? Oh, no!
Oh, my God!
"I intended to take pictures
of the cemetery railings..."
[Tish] "...but the caretaker
locked the gates.
"This meant I could only take pictures
"of the cemetery railings from one angle."
- [Sombre music]
- "So, I decided to take the pictures
"of the railings around the tomb.
"I thought that
the wrought iron patterns on the rail
"were very like funeral urns
"that went very well with the object
they were enclosing.
"On 12A and 13A,
"this is what I was trying to show.
"The other shots were taken
to show the different angles...
"but the pictures did not come out
as I expected.
"They seemed blurred,
and not sharp enough to show
"the harshness of the subject."
[Music subsides]
[Dennis] She was true to herself
and she was true to the medium, and...
she was brilliant,
she was very, very good.
It was like she was born
with a silver camera in her hand.
[Wistful music]
[Music subsides]
[Chris] Well, I liked her work.
A lot of it centered around
members of her family.
And they were
the tough end of working-class life.
And so, she just photographed them,
and the penny dropped later
that what they had in common
was "unemployed", you know?
And they were in her neighbourhood.
They were good, they were intimate,
they were strong, and they were powerful.
They were like her.
She was very brave 'round here,
I'll tell you.
I mean, people with cameras 'round
here are normally people from the DSS.
- [Ella chuckles]
- Or the local police force or whatever.
People become very suspicious.
I mean, she took a few chances.
The fact is that people knew
she was Tish Murtha,
probably allowed her
a little bit more credence...
- A bit more leeway, yeah.
- [She chuckles]
[Eileen] She was one of us,
you know, one of the kids.
Because of where we lived,
you couldn't just be a passive bystander.
You had to be involved.
She kind of honed her eye, if you like.
And because she was
a very determined person,
she wasn't going to be told... that,
"Well, you need to take pretty pictures"
or, "That's what a camera's for."
She knew, you know,
that what was in front of her was...
- you know, as important...
- [Ella] Yeah.
...as anything.
I think she knew that this was as valid
as any book you picked up and looked at,
that what she was seeing in front of her
was our life,
and it needed to give it a value,
you know...
- [Ella] Yeah.
- [Eileen]...to put it there and say,
you know,
"We are here," you know, "We are...
- "We have a value, you know?"
- [Ella] Definitely.
[Dennis] You couldn't go
anywhere in this country
and do documentary photography.
There was a magazine in those days,
a photograph magazine called
The British Journal of Photography,
and loads of courses
were advertised in there.
And I must have, somehow or other,
seen this thing
about Newport College of Art.
- Here we go. Are you ready for this?
- [Dennis] Oh, my...
So, this...
Have a look at this. Just...
"Be at Newport College of Art
"and ask for David Hurn or John Charity
"on Tuesday the 25th of May.
"Good luck, Dennis."
- Oh, wow. Good grief.
- [Ella chuckles]
[David Hurn] I remember Tish very clearly.
She was the shortest interview
there'd ever been.
Because she came in,
the first question was,
"Why do you want to be...
What do you want to photograph?"
And she literally did say,
"I want to photograph
policemen kicking kids," you know?
And I said, "You're in."
[Birdsong;
Wind rushes softly]
[David Swidenbank]
It was a bit strange, really.
We all turned up at college
that first morning,
and she was a bit sort of concerned
as to where she was
going to sort of plonk everything,
I think, more than anything else.
And I seem to remember saying to her then,
"Where are you staying?"
'Cause everybody...
I was relatively local.
And your mother sort of said, "Well, I
don't know yet. I'm still working on it."
And I got the impression,
I think, that what her ultimate plan was
that when everybody had gone,
she would have probably found
a corner in the darkroom somewhere
and settled down.
I suggested to her
that I had a spare room,
that she was quite welcome
to come and stay.
- This camera here...
- [David Hurn] Yeah.
- So, this is my mam's OM-1...
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- ...that she bought on hire purchase...
- Yeah, yes.
- ...from Dixons Newport...
- Yeah, yes.
...in November, 1976.
- Yeah.
- And you were her guarantor.
- Oh!
- [He laughs cheerfully]
God, that was dangerous.
"189." How sweet.
Well, that was
one of the most sensible things I did.
I set up this sort of pattern of working
by which you worked with a single person
and then a relationship between people.
I had what was called
an establishing shot...
I've seen it on the contact sheets, yeah.
If you look at
the John Ford movie Stagecoach,
the film opens up with a big landscape,
actually in Arizona,
and it's this little, tiny stagecoach
going down. That's an establishing shot.
It tells you where the film...
The film is taking place out there.
And then it goes in
and it shows you the stagecoach,
and then it goes in
and you see the close-up of John Wayne.
All I was doing
was teaching them how to do that
with any story you did.
And what was good was
she didn't fight me on this.
- Did she fight you on much stuff?
- Yeah, nearly everything.
But just because she was her.
She obviously felt most comfortable
if she felt she was having a say...
- [Ella] Okay.
- ...and I loved that.
You see, this is...
so typical of her, in that...
she would seemingly be
this abrasive person,
but she was the person
that was keeping her files...
- [Ella chuckles]
- ...and captioning
and doing all that back at home.
She was quite a firebrand, I suppose,
and you could tell that straight away.
You know, there was no messing about.
It's reflected in her work, isn't it?
It's very gritty and very to-the-point.
But what I think impressed me was that
there must have been quite a few people
that she photographed
that would have said, "No," you know,
"I don't want to be photographed."
But there was no sort of... barrier.
[Daisy] We just got completely
taken over by doing documentary work.
We shot about 20 rolls of film a week,
and we had to go out and do
a portrait of a worker or something.
We'd all be going out
doing lollipop ladies
and street cleaners,
and going into schools and everything.
And Tish went down and went into pubs.
That was her home ground.
And I suppose that's what struck me
straight away,
that this was someone who had an agenda.
[Ruminative music]
[Music subsides]
At the end of the course
was the Queen's Jubilee.
[Ella chuckles]
So, we all had to take pictures
to do with it.
[David Swidenbank] At first,
your mother was not interested at all.
- [Ella chuckles]
- So, we did spend a while
sort of persuading her to come round.
If you sort of work down a list
of the things that the Jubilee did,
street parties
were obviously quite a strong...
And you could break that down
into, then, posh street parties,
middle-class street parties
and working-class street parties.
And clearly that suddenly became
what, in fact, she did.
[Stirring music]
[Music concludes]
- So, how did Tish make you feel?
- [He chuckles]
I think probably jealous,
to certain extent.
- [Ella] Really?
- Yeah, because, I mean...
her work was what...
the course was about.
One important thing that David taught us,
you had to get empathy with your subject.
Her background
obviously helped her do that.
And she had an opportunity
to show the rest of the world, I think,
what life was really like.
She had a wonderful picture of a couple...
who were a disadvantaged couple
who were sleeping on the street.
And it's so tender.
It is so tender.
[Birdsong]
She had a passion,
and she knew what she wanted to do.
You can't teach somebody
how to have passion.
[Ruminative music]
[Music subsides]
[Ella] Were you in Newcastle
when she came back from Wales?
[Eileen] Yeah, yeah.
- Did you notice a difference in her then?
- Absolutely, yes.
And there was so much going on
politically at that time as well,
wasn't there?
- [Ella] Yeah.
- You know, there was a whole generation
of disenfranchised and disaffected
young people who had nothing.
There were so many hurdles on the way up,
- to her getting to that point.
- [Ella] Mm.
[Eileen] The address alone,
the area we lived in,
was a no-no, it was a block.
It seemed that...
okay, she'd made a step
and gone beyond Elswick,
and I think she needed
to learn the technical things
and she needed to perfect that
and know how to create a beautiful image,
to give it a nice finish, and...
But the actual content...
she knew already because she'd lived it.
[Woman, on radio] Last month,
Vickers Management announced its intention
to close its Scotswood factory
in Newcastle,
putting almost 800 jobs at risk.
The workers lodged a campaign
to oppose the closure
and issued a list of demands,
including clarification on how
the decision to close the factory was made
and disclosure of what discussions
have taken place with the government
for financial support and new investment.
Yesterday morning,
the workers took over the factory,
locking the doors and gates
to stage a sit-in protest.
[Sombre, slow music]
[Tish] "I don't like the term
'community photographer.'
"Makes me think of middle-class trendies.
"My use of photography
and my approach to it
"is based on the conviction
"that the fundamental value of the medium
"is its capacity to provide
direct, accurate and vital records
"of the conditions, events and experience
"that shape our lives.
"I've been documenting
the human effects of unemployment
"and the unsuccessful campaign
against the closure
"of Vickers Scotswood Works.
"I hope it shows
the effects of unemployment on men
"and its repercussions on society.
"I think it's a strong exhibition,
and can raise a few issues."
[Music builds]
[Music builds further]
[Music continues]
[Music continues]
[Music subsides;
Rowdy singing]
...to see the Blaydon Races
Oh, me lads,
you should've seen us gannin'
Passing the folks along the road
Just as they were stannin'
There was lots o' lads and lasses there
All with smiling faces
Gannin' along the Scotswood Road
To see the Blaydon Races.
[Lively chatter]
[Chatter continues]
[Chatter subsides]
[Ethel] She was frightening.
- Frightening?
- Your mother was a bit scary, yeah.
Was she?
She was only a tiny little thing.
[Ethel] I remember her telling me
that the management had taken chisels
to the last two dates on the equipment,
so the people couldn't say,
"Well, you know, no wonder
the bloody factory isn't efficient
"because you haven't actually changed this
since 1932."
[Chris] Tish was firmly of the left.
Yeah, unabashedly of the left.
And she did work
for different unions at different times.
Not to get paid, but just to help them.
She was committed.
She was a committed individual.
She was committed
to working-class struggle,
which is continuous and never-ending.
[Sombre, resonant music]
[Music subsides]
[Chris] She came from a family
with a fierce reputation.
Her brothers were pretty tough, you know.
You didn't argue with Tish Murtha
'cause you didn't want her brothers
going after you, that's for sure.
Whoa, whoa, whoa...
And certainly, you didn't want
her dad chasing you.
- Oh, God, no. Yeah.
- [He chuckles]
- [Music - "Vissi d'arte" by Maria Callas]
- Nell'ora del dolore
Perch, perch, Signore?
Perch me ne rimuneri
Cos?
[Eileen] In the background of our life,
there was always this...
opera, you know, all these romantic arias.
- [Ella] Yeah.
- So, that actually...
- really sort of heightened the... tension.
- [Ella] The tension.
[Eileen] There was all this...
you know, sort of aggro,
and you're not knowing whether,
when you came in,
what you were going to have to deal with.
[Ella] I don't know how my Nana did it.
[Eileen] Some of the things
she put up with,
other people would have gone, you know...
- [Ella] Yeah.
- [Eileen]...in spite of having children.
But she stayed for us.
[Mark] He was harsh with all his kids.
He was a man of his time,
that's all I'm going to say.
He was a man of his time.
How do you get over
something like that, Carl?
[Eileen] Even though
we were scared of him,
- we would challenge him.
- [Ella] Yeah.
And it's always quite a dangerous...
...place to be, because you don't know...
where... you know,
you don't know where the line is.
You know, I think he'd been quite violent
with my mother as well.
So, he would line everybody up
and say, "Right, everybody, bend over."
He used to like
to show people his control.
'Cause he used to use the belt.
Well, I know my mam had...
she had some scars.
- God, yeah.
- She refused to cry.
[Eileen] Yes.
Yeah, that's absolutely true.
[Ella] I think it says a lot
about my mam's...
[Eileen] Strength of character.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
She wouldn't...
She wouldn't let him see.
My grand a,
he had the fight with the council.
He was threatened with rent arrears.
- So, you were going to be evicted?
- [Eileen] Yeah, yeah.
He said, "Well, that'll mean
my kids'll end up in care," sort of thing.
You know, "Okay, go ahead and do it."
And he called their bluff,
and they did it.
How old were you?
- [Eileen] I was four.
- Oh, my gosh.
[Eileen] And Tish would have been six,
six and a half.
We were taken to this huge place
and told we had to be very quiet, and...
We went in and we were lined up.
- And then the nuns all came and...
- [Ella] God.
- ...chose which ones they wanted.
- [Ella exhales]
You know,
"I'll have this one, I'll have that one."
So, we were... we were separated.
They were cruel, they were very cruel.
You know, horrible...
quite violent women, they were.
And the funny thing about it,
and probably Tish is just the same,
I hadn't realised I was really alive
properly until that moment, you know?
[Sombre music]
[Music subsides]
[Chris] She was a very determined person.
She'd come from
the School of Hard Knocks, basically,
and I was involved
with Side Gallery at the time,
and helped get a commission for Tish
to photograph juvenile jazz bands.
[Imposing music]
[Tish] "Although the regimentation
and discipline of the Second World w*r
"and its accompanying boom in industry
"encouraged a decline,
"jazz bands have re-entered the scene
"and re-establish themselves in new form,
"mainly in the areas
"where economic and social deprivation
are the norm.
"These pictures were taken
in the west end of Newcastle,
"an area categorized by and noted for
its inadequate facilities,
"including everything from housing
to public telephones.
"Children's leisure activities
are no exception,
"and the jazz band reigns supreme,
"as much a feature of the area
as the high-rise flats
"and the local dole office.
"In addition to the official band,
"small groups of children who,
for various reasons,
"are not eligible for membership -
"the jazz band rejects -
improvise toy bands.
"These often start out
as an attempt to emulate the big band,
"but involve the child's imagination
"to almost the same extent
"as the official band denies it.
"To be accepted into
and remain in the juvenile jazz band,
"a child must put aside
all normal behaviour
"and become the plaything
of the failed soldier,
"the ex-Armed Forces member and their ilk.
"Any spark of individuality
"is crushed
by the military training imposed,
"until the child's actions resemble
"those of a mechanical tin soldier,
"acting out the confused fantasies
"of an older generation."
[Music continues]
[Tish] "A recent move
by local authorities in Newcastle
"gives jazz bands
the official seal of approval
"by the allocation of grants
from local funds,
"ensuring that, whatever the demand,
"these poor substitutes
for creative recreational activity
"are here to stay...
"with a little help from the taxpayer."
[Music continues]
[Music concludes]
She didn't like juvenile jazz bands.
She thought it was
a complete waste of time and energy
to blow in a kazoo when you could have
learned a musical instrument.
It used to drive her mad, you know?
She hated it.
But she knew it was part of the culture
of where she grew up.
[Ethel] It was kind of like the view
that this was somehow creative.
And Tish would go on and say,
"They're marching up and down there,
"it's like some bloody neo-fascist."
And also, she kind of wasn't
very comfortable with the relationship
between the people
who were training the young girls
wearing extremely short skirts, you know?
And looking back on it,
it is a bit kind of bizarre, isn't it?
But I remember
writing a letter to the Evening Chronicle.
Yeah, 'cause people all started writing in
calling her the Demon Snapper.
- And I think you wrote in to defend her.
- Yeah, I did.
[Contemplative music]
[Tish] "In reply to letters
in Family Extra on April the 4th,
"I would like to make it quite clear
I am not attacking individuals
"or specific juvenile 'jazz' bands.
"Having observed the growth of these bands
throughout my childhood,
"I feel I'm as entitled as the next person
"to draw my own conclusion
based on these experiences,
"and I find the photographic medium
"a suitable vehicle for their expression.
"The amount of controversy
generated by the exhibition
"has been as much a surprise to me
as to anyone else.
"Since a discussion is now underway,
"I would like to invite
any member of the public
"to bring their views to a debate
scheduled for April the 25th at 7:30pm
"at the Side Gallery.
"Hopefully, the issue can be
thoroughly and fairly discussed.
"Tish Murtha,
- "the Demon Snapper."
- [Music subsides]
She didn't come across as a person
that you would mess with...
- Did she not?
- [She laughs]
Not that easily, you know.
No, she didn't mind upsetting people,
if it brought the agenda forward
that it was militaristic,
that most of these bands were run
by failed Sergeant Majors from the Army,
bullying the kids
into being performing monkeys, really.
It's very important
that people from within communities
record their own community.
If there's any bleakness in my work,
it was bleakness that I felt.
You know,
the thing is with myself and your mam,
you know, we were living
in these marginalized communities.
We were part of the community,
which was a rare thing at the time.
It's a different story when you're
actually from the place you're working in.
You've got the mentality that you're
photographing your people, really.
You're part of the tribe,
and you're trying to do your best
to represent the tribe in the best way.
You know, when I first saw
your mam's jazz band work,
I was just amazed
how close she got in to people.
She spent time with people,
which is obvious.
You've got to invest a lot of time
actually getting to know people
before you can get close to people
and where the camera becomes
a secondary thing,
you're just there as part of the crowd
and you're documenting things.
She invested a lot of time in her work.
She would spend months and months
- photographing these kids in Elswick.
- [Ella chuckles]
There's a photograph with a guy
with a cigarette hanging out his mouth,
- he's playing cards and stuff like that.
- Yeah.
[Mik] To take a photograph like that,
you've got to be there
for a long, long time,
to study what's going on.
I would like to see the photographs
either side of that one.
Mm.
[Mik] Tish used to work on a body of work,
rather than just a single image,
where you're building up a story,
you're building up the narrative,
and you're bringing
all these characters in, you know,
and it builds a wider picture,
rather than just one single portrait.
[Sombre, resonant music]
[Music subsides]
[Mark] I'd been sitting on our wall,
the front of the house,
just entertaining the kids
as they went by.
All the kids seemed to run over the road
and went in this direction.
And when we got there, we saw these,
my brothers
jumping out of the top window.
That type of activity was all day long.
Nothing else for them to do.
- That is reality. That's the way it was.
- [Ella] That was your life.
And that's...
We're entitled to show it.
[Birdsong]
[Ella] What were you thinking about
on that wall?
[Ella] Do you have a favourite?
[Birdsong]
I love this one of you.
You're stunning, you'd know, like...
What was happening there, then?
Yeah.
[Ella] There you are.
"Handle With Care."
[Both chuckle]
[Ella] What did you want to do, then,
when you grew up?
[Ella] You wanted to be an actor?
"Carl was admitted to John Marley School
in September, 1977.
"He is an honest young man,
and we have no hesitation
"in recommending him
for any position of trust.
"This letter is intended to be shown
to prospective employers."
And you were just...
And you were sent out to just...
It's just sl*ve labor.
[Mark] It was a Thatcherite scheme
to take the numbers down
of the youth unemployed.
It was a Youth Opportunity scheme.
For your dole money,
you had to join a scheme
that would do voluntary work
here and there.
But that's all
you were ever going to be good for.
You can see why
some of these kids turned to crime.
They were forced onto these silly schemes
that led to nowhere.
"We'll stop your money
if you don't go on it," you know?
And treating them like they were
little children of serfdom.
[Eileen] She was seeing
her brothers, particularly,
who, literally, they were...
they were a forgotten generation
of young people.
There was nothing for them.
You were often sent for an interview,
but soon as they knew
you were from Elswick,
you didn't stand much chance.
[Chris] Tish identified
with youth unemployment
because she was unemployed.
She knew exactly what was happening
to them, what a struggle it was.
She was so angry about it.
- She...
- [He stammers]
She recorded her friends
in their struggles,
these young kids
who couldn't get jobs, you know?
They'd left school
without any qualifications,
and if they had qualifications,
what job were they going to get?
There were no jobs going.
Where there is discord,
may we bring harmony.
Where there is error, may we bring truth.
Where there is doubt, may we bring faith.
And where there is despair,
may we bring hope.
[Switch clicks]
[Ominous music]
[Tish] "High levels of unemployment
"have always been
a hard and constant feature
"of life in the west end of Newcastle.
"The area, built up in the 19th century
"on the basis of
heavy engineering and shipbuilding,
"once at the very center of the economy,
"has been contending with
the accumulated effects
"of industrial decline and stagnation
for much of the century,
"and its physical symptoms are apparent
"in the area's general air
of dereliction and decay.
"The official assessments
place the actual number
"out of work in this area at 1,700.
"Over double the rate in comparison
with the rest of Newcastle,
"Approximately 1,100 of these
"are under the age of 30.
"Clearly a very serious situation.
"Nevertheless, the Government's
Youth Opportunity Programme
"obscures the real situation,
"as those participating
are officially termed 'employed'
"and never enter the statistics."
[Music continues]
[Tish] "Carl Murtha
left school in summer, 1979
"with a number of qualifications,
an excellent reference
"and an ambition to work in some capacity
"with a drama workshop.
"His experiences since then
"have convinced him
that he and hundreds of others like him
"will never be allowed to be anything more
than part of the growing reserves
"of a fully-expendable
cheap labor market.
"After six weeks of constant
searching for work to no avail,
"Carl and his mate Cuddles,
from the same street,
"received cards from the Career Center,
"which informed them that,
'An exciting opportunity has arisen.
"" Report to this office at once.'
"They were asked to hand in these cards,
"and told to report
to the city's cleansing department,
"where they were officially introduced
"to the joys
of sweeping the Newcastle streets,
"one of the Manpower Services
Commission schemes.
"Of the YOP."
"The main criticisms
of both lads on the scheme
"was not the small wage of 20.55
"for 40 hours per week hard graft,
"usually in atrocious weather conditions,
"but the physical and mental bullying
"of the work's gaffers,
"one of whom had the strange habit
"of sticking brush shanks through
the dungarees of the smaller-built lads...
"...and hanging them from the nearest beam
"until he had the curious satisfaction
of seeing them burst into tears.
"One lad in particular
"was singled out
for a stronger dose of this treatment.
"He's now receiving psychiatric help.
"The charge hand
responsible for the bullying...
"has now joined the police force."
[Music continues]
[Tish] "Young people, already experiencing
the problems of adolescence,
"are left to cope alone with a situation
"that their educational training
has not prepared them for,
"forcing them into a state
of premature redundancy
"the minute they pass through
the school gates for the last time.
"What is becoming clear to the generation
now approaching maturity
"is that our society
has no solutions for their problems,
"can give no direction to their lives.
"Unemployment
and all its associated deprivations
"are not only getting worse,
"but new technologies
threaten to make the situation permanent.
"Behind empty, pathetic talk
of increased leisure opportunities
"and freedom from repetitive labor,
"stands the spectre of enforced idleness,
wasted resources
"and the squandering
of a whole generation of human potential."
[Music continues]
[Tish] "This is vandalism
on a grand scale."
[Music continues]
[Tish] "Hidden in a smokescreen
of cynical double talk
"and pious moralizing,
"the shape of the future
"is nevertheless clearly discernible.
"Cuts in social spending,
"including unemployment benefits,
"mean that the conditions under which
they must endure their enforced idleness
"will rapidly deteriorate
to become an intolerable burden,
"the consequences of which
will be enormous.
"No established channels exist
"to represent or even acknowledge
the interests of those involved,
"and the failure of the political parties
and even the trade unions
"to contribute anything
other than platitudes to the situation
"increases the alienation
of the youth still further.
"The intractable nature of this problem,
"intensified as it is
by the Thatcher government's
"extreme free market philosophy,
"opens up a period of bitter conflict,
"as young people
grow more and more frustrated,
"and refuse to accept
the logic of an economic system
"which deprives them of a productive
and meaningful future."
[Music continues]
[Tish] "It must never be forgotten
"that there are barbaric
and reactionary forces in our society,
"who, while having no intrinsic appeal
to the youth themselves,
"will not be slow
to make political capital
"from an embittered youth,
"should the labor movement fail
"to give their search for new social,
economic and political values
"a positive and sustained direction."
Tish Murtha. May, 1980.
[Music continues]
- [Music concludes]
- [Ella] She was really angry.
[Ella] Really?
Obviously, you're her youngest brother
and she loved you very much,
and she was so... angry
at what was happening to you
and all of your friends, you'd know?
The only thing she could do
to try and help you
was to shine a light.
I mean,
'cause it got talked about in Parliament.
[Ella] So, did she break you?
Good.
[Sombre music]
[Music subsides]
[Ethel] There's this whole thing
about documentary photography,
and it's about getting stuff published,
as in, is it kind of like art when it's
in galleries? How does it fit in?
You know,
so much of it is whether you do fit in,
whether you hit the...
Is it new? Is it different?
Are you authentic?
Are you gritty enough?
And your mother wasn't into
that type of stuff at all,
you'd know what I mean?
[Mik] I think myself and Tish were
more or less seen as novelties, really.
Both natives of the Northeast.
And we were doing it
for ourselves, really.
Had I came from a different background,
I probably would have had more chance
of breaking the so-called "art world."
If you don't keep above a certain level
with exhibitions and stuff like that,
it's very easy to drop out of it.
For someone like Tish,
who was uncompromising,
she would have found it
very difficult to toe the line.
You've just got to have the determination
to see things through.
[Chris] A lot of her good work
was done before any involvement
with anything like Side Gallery.
I got support from Northern Arts,
and I'd had support from
the Arts Council of Great Britain.
I can't remember Tish getting any support
from either of those bodies.
[Sombre, steady music]
[Tish] "Dear Dennis,
"I left the Side Gallery,
for a number of reasons,
"but mainly because of their peculiar
attitude towards me and my work.
"They wanted to manipulate it
to fit their group philosophy of,
"'Working-class culture
and poverty is beautiful, man.'
"Oh, it's sickening.
"On top of that, they wouldn't provide
adequate darkroom facilities
"to do the work they employed me to do.
"And the boss's girlfriend was getting
really spiteful and bitchy towards us,
"damaging expensive photographic work
"by bursting into the darkroom,
"switching lights on,
accidentally on purpose.
"So, as they obviously thought
it was all a big joke,
"and thought I should just be grateful
for any situation they offered,
"I told them where to stick the job,
"and what an offensive,
incestuous little clique they were.
[Tish] "Anyway,
I won my case against them,
"and got six weeks'
full dole benefit backdated."
[Music continues]
[Tish] "Financially,
things are a bit rough at the moment,
"but I'm a damn sight happier
out of their clutches.
"This photography world
and those who operate it
"really make you sick at times."
[Music continues]
[Music subsides]
- She moved to London, I think, '82.
- Yeah.
[Daisy] I think so. That's Karen.
[Ella] And she was a dancer
wasn't she, from Canada?
[Daisy] Yeah.
[Ella] They were living in a shared house.
My mam had got this commission
from the Photographers' Gallery
to do this project
on Soho and sex workers.
And Karen was working in Soho.
So, they worked together,
- they collaborated.
- [Daisy] Yeah.
[Pensive music]
[Tish] "Dear Merylin,
"Karen and I had tea
with three male prostit*tes last Sunday,
"in a semi-detached house in Wimbledon,
"where we had cucumber sandwiches
with the crust removed,
"Earl Grey tea, and indulged
in nothing but polite conversation.
"It was most bizarre.
"Anyway, we managed to behave ourselves
"and have been invited back.
"Best wishes, Tish Murtha.
"P.S. Soho going well.
"Was working all night last Tuesday,
"but was chased off
by a tr*nsv*stite with an axe.
"Will try again 'cause I need the money."
[Music continues]
[Music subsides]
I think I met your mum in London,
in Camden...
through Karen,
and she was featured
in the nightlife, sort of Soho.
So, we were sort of just out of college
and just starting to work as an actor.
And then these things we sort of developed
so that we had some sort of income.
We just clicked. Had a good eye.
I knew she could take a good picture,
if you know what I mean.
And then your mum
used to come with us on the circuit
and she used to meet the girls.
The circuit was about a dozen strip clubs
where all the girls would work.
So, it was Mayfair and Soho,
and you'd start about...
8:00, 9:00,
and finish about 2:00 in the morning.
Wow.
You'd do ten minutes,
ten times or 12 times a night.
A lot of them weren't licensed,
but they'd have the punters
drinking non-alcoholic lager,
not knowing that they were
drinking non-alcoholic lager.
And then sometimes you'd go in and do
the act again after you'd done the circuit
and it'd still be the same punter there,
with the hostess.
But the actual exhibition
went down very well,
and a lot of the girls
on the circuit came.
- It was a celebration...
- [Ella] Yeah.
...and the pictures were... astounding.
It was like an intimate look
into the other side of Soho.
So, there were
prostit*tes, strippers, punters.
- But nothing was posed.
- [Ella] No.
[Philip] I think even there was
one of Karen outside the theatre,
sort of standing against this light,
and it sort of summed up...
It was a rainy night in the West End,
you know, but people still work.
[Laid-back music]
[Music continues]
[Music continues]
[Music continues]
[Music concludes, resonates]
She was rushing around,
and, I mean, she was...
You can see there
how skinny she was, you'd know?
And she said she'd gone to the doctors
and she thought she was dying,
and the doctor had recommended
that she drink,
I think it was
half a pint of Guinness every night.
So, she was drinking this Guinness,
and she wasn't really feeling any better.
But she had gone back to this doctor,
and she was saying, "I think I'm dying,"
and it turned out
she was pregnant with me.
[Daisy] Your mum
got bigger and bigger with you...
- [Ella chuckles]
- ...and we agreed
that I could photograph your birth,
and set up shop in the labor room
with her and Jimmy.
I've brought some contact sheets
that you made, to have a look at.
They're so beautiful.
I can see why she wanted you to take them.
I mean, this...
- That's like...
- [Daisy] You emerging.
- [Ella] Wow.
- [Daisy] With your little dark hair.
For birth pictures, they're significant,
but they're not very pretty.
[Ella] She loved them.
I think my absolute favourite...
- And it's, like, where, like...
- [Daisy] Oh, yes.
...she's waiting to meet me.
- And I just think the lighting...
- [Daisy] The lighting was terrific.
- [Ella] She was so proud.
- [Daisy] Well, it was a lovely moment.
And it was good that your dad came along,
- 'cause Jimmy holding Tish...
- [Daisy groans]
[Ella] I'm glad that, you know, she had
some support. I'm glad you were there.
[Daisy] All the time
your mum was pregnant,
she knew she was going to have a boy.
- You were going to be called Nimrod.
- [Daisy] Oh, my... Why?!
[Daisy] Well, Nimrod Variations, Elgar,
you know,
her favourite classical musician.
But then you came out
and you were a little girl.
[Ella, Daisy chuckle]
[Wistful music]
[Music continues]
[Tish] "It's 9:00.
"It's very late
for a baby girl to be awake.
"She should settle down now
"or she'll never wake up
for Ramona and Dennis.
"Goodnight, dear Ella.
"I give you my heart."
[Music subsides]
And then once you were born,
you more or less became sort of a fixture
in our social life.
And it was Tish, and then Tish and Ella.
And "Tish and Ella" was almost one word.
[Ella] Yeah,
Tish and Ella against the world.
[Philip] And I just then became
your fairy godfather.
I didn't want to be your godfather
'cause I'm not particularly religious.
So, that's why I decided
to be your fairy godfather.
And you were in and out
of the darkroom with her.
'Cause I can remember, when you were tiny,
you used to watch the photos.
And I used to watch her develop stuff.
- It was magical, wasn't it?
- [Philip] Yeah.
[Ella] I saw a statistic recently.
80% of women
are in education about photography,
- but then actually working in it...
- [Daisy] Mm.
...it's only something like 15%.
And it's just interesting
to try and understand...
why so many women can't make a go...
It's a very male-dominated...
Yeah, well, I think...
I know I could've,
and I was capable of doing it,
but I couldn't... with having a child,
'cause I couldn't work out
how to look after...
you know,
I couldn't afford a child-minder.
It just seems, though,
like, it's always women.
It's always women
who have to sacrifice their careers.
I feel...
The time in my mam's life,
you'd know, that she'd moved to London,
she was having that exhibition
at the Photographers' Gallery.
She was on the cusp of huge things.
- And obviously I wasn't planned...
- [Daisy] Mm.
...and I arrived,
and I've always felt really responsible,
you'd know, because it's difficult.
You can't with a kid in tow,
when you're a single mam.
No, but...
the other side is that Tish was given,
offered opportunities.
I mean, everyone recognised her talent.
I mean, I got her a job teaching.
Lasted half a day.
[Both laugh]
[Daisy] She wouldn't,
she couldn't compromise.
She had to be a photographer.
You know, like, the Side
often tried to sort of pull her in,
but she was really against them
and feeling they were...
She was always suspicious
that people were,
- you know, using her.
- [Ella] Yeah.
She had been treated badly
by certain people.
And I think it does make it...
it makes things difficult.
You know, she was suspicious.
And I just do feel...
very responsible.
I mean, I didn't ask to be born,
but I think I must have
changed her life irreversibly.
You were the best thing
she could have had.
- [Ella] You'd think?
- Yeah.
- [Ella] Was she happy?
- She loved you so much.
You were...
You were the bee's knees.
- You could do everything.
- [Daisy chuckles]
- You were so musical.
- [Ella chuckles]
She'd drown you with jazz.
Well, I'm named after Ella Fitzgerald,
aren't I? You'd know, like, it's...
She made me feel like
the most special person.
[Daisy] Oh, yeah, no.
Well, you were. You were magic.
[Young Ella] To start off the play,
I'm just going to state who this is.
It is Ella Murtha. But first,
I'm going to sing Twinkle, Twinkle.
That's my favourite song,
and I was the star in the Christmas play,
and I had to sing Twinkle, Twinkle.
So, I hope you enjoy it.
And I am a very good singer,
my mummy says.
And here it is.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star
How I wonder what you are
Up above the world so high
Like a diamond in the sky
Twinkle, twinkle, little star
How I wonder
What you are.
[Daisy] She suddenly
took you back up north.
I think she was fed up of -
it sounds silly - of being poor.
She used to tell me she'd go down
to Camden Market at the end of the day
and pick up vegetables off the floor
and things.
[Ella] We went back to Elswick,
and she was taking photos again.
She was doing a whole series.
It was Elswick Revisited.
The area had changed drastically
from the Youth Unemployment pictures
just, you know, a mere ten years before.
Well, not even ten years before.
And for a time, I think we were happy.
I mean, I don't know. I don't know
whether Tish was ever really happy.
Well, she was very driven as well,
and photography was her life.
But I think every so often,
someone would sort of
give her stuff or money or...
things came her way.
She was a good friend,
and she was very good to me at times,
you know,
'cause you go through miserable times,
and she'd sort of...
spark me up.
We had some really good times.
[Tender music]
[Tish] "Hello, David.
"I have a Northern Arts Award for 2,500
paid in installments,
"which is basically
to explore racial tension in this area.
"It's a very tough one to crack, this.
"But I'm taking snaps again,
which is good."
[Music continues]
[Music concludes]
[Papers rustle]
That's another good one.
I don't know...
[Ella] Oh, this is interesting!
This boy here...
- who's got his back to us...
- [Philip] Yeah.
[Ella]...he contacted me via Instagram,
and he said, "Oh, I think I met your mam
"in sort of, like, the late-'80s
in Elswick Park,
"and she came over
and she started asking us about our views
"and why we felt like that."
And he said she was the first adult
who had actually listened to him
and wanted to...
know how he felt.
And he said that she talked to them
about removing the emotion from a subject
and looking at it
from other point of views.
And he said it changed his life
and he took that... into his life.
Was she taking pictures right at the end?
The last pictures she was taking
will have been these.
- This is when she was in Middlesbrough.
- Yeah.
So, she spent a lot of time
at Linthorpe Cemetery.
And it's quite bizarre
looking at all these pictures
considering
what was just around the corner.
But she found it...
She was at peace. It was very serene.
[Philip] "Here is your angel
in her summer finery."
I always like the fact that she
wrote something on the back of pictures,
like a little postcard.
When I see her handwriting, like,
I can imagine her voice.
- [Philip] Yeah.
- I feel like she's here, you'd know?
- It's unusual to see color, isn't it?
- [Ella] Yeah, but she...
she had to do color
in the later days, though,
because after the credit crunch and stuff,
she couldn't get hold
of any of her chemicals.
She couldn't get
black and white film, either.
Always had trouble
getting black and white film.
[Contemplative music]
[Tish] "Central Middlesbrough
is a culturally diverse community
"which has been portrayed -
unfairly to my eyes -
"as an area of crime,
prostitution and drugs.
"A community which is
at ease with itself in, so many ways
"is currently threatened
by redevelopment plans,
"implementation of which is already seeing
the beginnings of the demolition process.
"Originally built to house
the workers from the local steel industry
"in the late 19th century,
"as well as the descendants
of these families,
"the community includes
Asian, African, Arab, Chinese,
"Turkish and Eastern European populations.
"I would like to build
a celebration of the community.
"Initial work has explored the local Mela
"and the restored Albert Park,
"the transformation
of the narrow backyards
"into flowering gardens...
"young mothers...
"life on the streets
and in some of the meeting points.
"My approach is informal,
"generating an understanding
of what I'm doing
"by giving copies of my photographs
to the people with whom I'm working.
"I'm only seeking funding to support
the cost of materials and equipment
"that will both enable this process
and produce exhibition prints,
"through which a full celebration
of the community can be achieved.
"Childcare responsibilities have made
the pursuit of my documentary practice
"difficult over recent years.
"My work depends on investment of time,
"building of relationships of trust,
"that allow access
to the different parts of the community,
"and to individual lives.
"Through the development of this project,
"I will hopefully generate
renewed interest
"in my work as a documentary photographer.
"Whatever happens
to the community of Central Middlesbrough,
"the work will stand
as a celebratory record
"of a diverse community
"which has found ways of living together
in relative harmony.
"Through the validation
of these different lives,
"this community, and possibly
other marginalized communities,
"may feel empowered
to challenge decision-making processes
"that all too often ignore their views."
[Music subsides]
[Mark] The impact was what you see there.
That was the impact.
That's the evidence, that's all you want.
It was good enough for us
to live like that,
and that was the price worth paying.
Mind you, we haven't come very far.
We've been unfortunate
to have the wrong people
to look after our interests.
They've failed again.
They always use money as a weapon.
But there's a lot of people
who actually control
that particular funding.
Maybe send it in the wrong directions.
[Birdsong;
Traffic hums]
Yeah.
[Ella] My mam's absolute favourite...
It is! That's what it is! It's you!
That's you, yeah!
[Ella] You look tight.
[Ella] Are you pleased that she took them?
Was he?
Aw.
You just never stood a chance, did you?
None of you. It's...
I mean, no wonder my mam was angry.
[Wistful music]
[Music subsides]
[Ella] How had older Tish changed
from the young Tish
that you met in Elswick?
We missed each other
for quite a few years.
Would it be 20 or 30,
I don't know, since she came out?
Probably the last time
was when you were a little one
- and she came out to see us.
- [Bob] Yeah.
In terms of, like, her personality,
had she changed?
Not really. She was...
Maybe she hadn't got the festiveness
that she had when she was younger.
She had that edge when she was young,
and it was...
[Ella] She had, like,
a fire in her belly, didn't she?
I think it had been extinguished, I think,
- by life and... just surviving.
- [Jos] Yes.
[Ella] After Middlesbrough,
she moved to Allenheads,
and then from there
she was close to me in Teesside.
But then, the camera,
there was something wrong with it...
and it was fogging up.
There was something wrong with the back.
- Well, it had had a life.
- [Ella chuckles]
- I mean, yeah.
- [Daisy] I mean, extraordinary.
She battered the hell out of it
for God-only-knows how long.
- She got her money's worth out of it.
- Oh, she certainly did.
They were great cameras, though. I mean,
she got that because of Don McCullin.
Don McCullin used to cart them into
battlefields, and all kinds of things.
[Ruminative music]
[Tish] "Happy Christmas, Eileen and Ali.
"Hope 2010 is a great year for you all.
"Thought you might like
a copy of Photoworks.
"The article by David Mellor
is nauseating claptrap,
"but I like what the editor, Gordon,
did with my photographs.
"Thank you for the shoes.
"They should fit okay.
"My situation at the moment
is a bit rough.
"One week I eat, next week I don't.
"I am moving. Only four streets away,
but it overlooks the park.
"Not by any means perfect,
but it'll do until the boat comes in.
"See you anon.
"Love, Tish."
[Music subsides]
[Tony Blair] This new welfare state...
...must encourage work, not dependency.
We are giving young people and the
long-term unemployed the opportunity.
A 3.5-billion investment programme.
We are adding today
the option of self-employment
as part of the New Deal.
But I think it right and fair
that they have to take
one of the options on offer.
We want single mothers
with school-aged children
at least to visit a Job Center,
not just stay at home,
waiting for the benefit cheque every week
until the children are 16.
I remember the dole
were giving her a hard time at one point.
They wanted her
to work in factory or something,
and she just wasn't having it.
And I was sort of supporting her
and saying, "No, stand up for yourself."
It was the time...
Do you remember New Deal?
- [Ella] Oh, God, yeah.
- All of that.
[Ella] She did actually get sent...
- She was sent to a meat-processing place.
- [Ella] Yeah.
But she was so tired,
'cause they were doing night shifts.
They used to come pick her up
in this bus thing.
And she was hallucinating.
She was just so tired. And the smell...
'Cause, I mean, she was a vegetarian...
- I know.
- [Ella]...you'd know? Like, it was...
She had so much talent,
and she just couldn't make a living
from photography.
- No.
- [Ella] She just couldn't do it.
[Sombre, resonant music]
[Tish] "Patricia Anne Murtha - CV.
"I am an honest,
reliable and trustworthy person...
"with the ability to work
on own initiatives
"or as an effective team member.
"Having previously completed
college training
"in documentary photography,
"I am now seeking a position
where I am able to fully utilize
"all of my skills and knowledge...
"...thriving on new challenges
and responsibility.
"I am versatile and adaptable,
"and can successfully transfer
my existing skills and knowledge...
"to new situations.
"Given the opportunity...
"...I am confident that I will prove to be
an asset to any future employer.
"During my spare time,
"I enjoy walking to keep fit.
"To relax, I listen to music
and read a variety of books.
"I like gardening,
and growing my own fruit and veg.
"I'm also a keen photographer...
"...and develop my own photos."
[Music subsides]
[Tish] "January the 14th, 2013.
"Got an e-mail number,
as requested by the Job Center.
"Made inquiries at Aldi Chichester,
for position as store assistant.
"Have no retail experience,
so response not very positive.
"January the 22nd.
"Sent CV and letter
to the Punjab Kitchen Ltd,
- "Eldon Street, South Shields..."
- [Tish voice overlaps]
"Spoke to Mandy about waiting staff job."
"February the 8th. Checked
the Universal Jobs site various times..."
"February 13th.
Also wrote to BB's Coffee Shop..."
"February 14th. Sent CV to Sodexo."
"February 16th. Visited various outlets
at the Gateshead retail center
"to make inquiries about vacancies."
[Water laps]
[Ella] She was living,
like, hand-to-mouth.
Like, I helped her where I could,
but I was on maternity leave.
- [Eileen] Of course you were.
- She spent her final few weeks
traipsing around,
trying to get jobs in a kitchen.
She was terrified to turn the heating on.
And, you'd know, the worst thing of all,
like, it was, did she heat or did she eat?
- [Eileen] Yes, yeah.
- And when she died,
I ended up getting a check for 100,
because she'd been
religiously putting this 20 on...
- Yeah, yeah.
- ...but terrified to have the heating on.
And she was in credit.
You'd know,
she could have had the heating on,
but she felt so... worthless
and like she didn't deserve
to have a warm house.
- And it's just, like...
- [Eileen] Oh, Ella.
But, you'd know,
when she was in that coma, right?
- [Eileen] I remember.
- I rang them...
- because...
- [Eileen] Just take a breath.
[Ella breathes shakily]
When I should have been looking after her
and worried about her...
...I was so stressed out
that she was going to get sanctioned
while she was in the hospital,
and she was going to lose her house...
- [Ella] When she was in a coma.
- Yeah.
So, I rang them, 'cause I couldn't
get any sense out of her.
I said, "Did you sign on on Friday?"
and she just...
She... She just wasn't making
any sense at all.
Which I now know is, you'd know,
what was going on in her brain.
And so, I rang them
and I said, "Look, my mam,
"she's had a brain haemorrhage,
she's in a coma.
"I don't know whether she came
and signed on on Friday,
"but obviously please don't sanction her."
And they just refused to talk to me.
- They refused to tell me if she'd been.
- [Eileen] Really?
They said, "It's against data protection.
We cannot discuss that with you."
The way the DWP and this government,
like, the way they treat people...
- Oh, it's punishing and punitive.
- It's... you'd know...
She was just a number.
We're all just numbers to them.
But, you'd know, like...
She was so special.
She was so talented...
- [Eileen] She was.
- ...and they didn't care.
I just like to come here
because it feels like going full circle.
- You'd know, she was born here.
- Yeah, she was.
You'd know, like,
her happy childhood memories are here.
- We had happy times here on this bench.
- This bench, yeah.
- Oh, yeah, it had to be this one.
- [Ella] It had to be this one.
[Sombre, resonant music]
[Gordon] Tish's work,
I remembered when I first looked at it,
remembered the kind of thrill
of what photography was
- and what it could do.
- [Music subsides]
They clearly weren't
those sort of explorer pictures.
You know, you feel when someone's
exploring a culture,
when someone's exploring
working-class culture,
and they've just stepped in,
and they're going to step out,
back to wherever, later on.
- Just parachute in...
- Parachute back out.
And they've got their pictures of people,
kids looking slightly grubby,
and stuff like this.
This felt like my childhood.
And it became clear when I met your mum,
when I learned more about the work
and talked to her more about the work,
that it was because that was her,
and she had made something
which was so clear
and so honest and so raw.
She was allowed to be invisible
in a way that someone
from the outside wouldn't be,
'cause that was her life.
Now your mum's work is central
to people's thinking about...
documentary photography from that period.
It's not peripheral any more,
and that's... that's something, isn't it?
So, you know, you've been helping me
with Clarrie and the Tate.
- You'd know how you set up your darkroom?
- Yes.
I was going to ask
whether you would like to print them.
Oh, God, I'd love to.
I would love you to print them
for the Tate Collection.
[Gordon] That's a really nice thing.
Um, yeah. God, yeah.
[Music - "Vissi d'arte" by Maria Callas]
[Music continues]
[Ella] To actually say that Tate Britain
have acquired my mam's work
for their permanent collection,
I mean,
the whole thought of that is just...
...it's quite overwhelming really.
I think she'd have loved
to have seen her work on the wall
and, you'd know, be recognised
for just how talented she was.
A lot of people say to me, like,
"That could have been me, that could have
been my brother, that could have been us."
Pictures of real people,
real stories, real lives.
And for it to be recognised because,
you'd know, my mam's work was brilliant.
And I mean, I'm biased,
but for other people to recognise that,
and for Tate to recognise that...
...what more could you want?
[Music continues]
Diedi Fiori
Agli altar
Nell'ora del dolore
Perch, perch, Signore?
Perch me ne rimuneri
Cos?
Diedi I gioielli
Della Madonna al man to
E diedi il canto
Agli astri, al ciel
Che ne ride an pi belli
Nell'ora del dolor
Perch
Perch, Signor?
Perch me ne rimuneri
Cos?
[Sombre instrumental music]
[Music concludes, resonates]
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