Richard Davis (photographer)

Richard Davis (born 1965) is a British, social documentary and portrait photographer, based in North West England. His work has been promoted and exhibited by the British Culture Archive and photography publishers, Café Royal Books. A series of Davis' photographs of Hulme Crescents, from the 1980s are currently held at the John Rylands Research Institute and Library which is part of the University of Manchester.

Life and work

Davis was born in Birmingham. He moved from Birmingham to study photography at Manchester Polytechnic (now Manchester Metropolitan University) in 1988. Whilst living in the city, he quickly started documenting life in the inner-city area of Hulme, its huge brutalist inspired concrete Crescents, as well as its many characters that inhabited the flats, many of which were squatters.

Davis also photographed stars of the Madchester scene as well as taking early portraits of comedians Steve Coogan and Caroline Aherne along with the poet Lemn Sissay.

Davis also photographed Nirvana live on their first tour of the United Kingdom in 1989, photographs of which were used in the BBC Two documentary film, When Nirvana Came to Britain.

In the early 1990s Davis teamed up with author Steve Redhead to work on a project called Football With Attitude, his photographs making the links between music, football and fashion.

More recently, Davis made a series of portraits of Mancunians under the Mancunian Way, a document of life around Gravelly Hill Interchange, the original spaghetti junction, in Birmingham and a set of photographs capturing life in the coastal resort of Morecambe.

Here Richard talks about some of his work with A State Of Mind https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6ggwFJ8GNU, Edinburgh, 2022

Publications

Books with others
  • Football With Attitude, Wordsmith 1991 author Steve Redhead ISBN 187320504X

Publications by Davis
  • Hulme 1980's 90's, Café Royal, 2019
  • The Mancunian Way, The Modernist Society, 2019
  • Tales From The Second Cities Manchester 1980's, Café Royal, 2020
  • Tales From The Second Cities Birmingham 1985–88, Café Royal, 2020
  • Football Fans 1991, Café Royal, 2021
  • The Madchester Years 1989–91, Café Royal, 2022
  • The Post-Punk Years 1988-1991, Cafe Royal 2022
  • Berlin December 1989, Cafe Royal 2022
  • MUFC Rotterdam 91, Lower Block 2023
  • Eastlands MCR 2023, Lower Block 2023
  • Cityzens of Manchester, Lower Block 2023

Exhibitions

This Nations Saving Grace

  • Midlands Art Centre, Birmingham, 1989
  • Counter Image, Manchester, 1990
  • East Sussex Arts Tour (Brighton, Lewes, Crowborough), 1991

Entertainment UK

  • Cornerhouse Bar, Manchester, 1991
  • The Green Room, Manchester, 1991
  • Midlands Art Centre, Birmingham, 1991/92

Football With Attitude

Manchester 88-92

  • The Book Room, Lancaster, 2009

Under Morecambe Skies

Portraiture - Past & Present

  • More Music, Morecambe, 2012
  • The Dukes, Lancaster, 2013

Exhibitions with British Culture Archive

  • The Social, London, 2019/20 with photographers Tish Murtha and Rob Bremner
  • The Refuge, Manchester (The People's City), 2020 with photographers Peter Walsh and Rob Bremner
  • Sputnik Kino, Kreuzberg, Berlin (British Shorts), 2020/21 with photographers Tish Murtha and Rob Bremner

Streets in the Sky

  • More Music, Morecambe, 2021/22
  • Bonded Warehouse, Manchester (Photo North Festival), 2022

In the City
  • Manchester Central Library, 2023

Collections

Davis' work is held in the following permanent collections:

References
  1. Baker, Clare (15 December 2020). "Rylands BlogNew Collection Announcement: 'Images of Hulme in the 80s and 90s'". Rylands Blog. Retrieved 5 January 2023.

General references
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