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Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen (Photographer)
Text drawn from Side Gallery archive sources:
In 1979 the Side Gallery in conjunction with North Tyneside Metropolitan Council, jointly funded a photographic project entitled North Tyneside Survey’. The idea was to commission several photographers to work on a variety of ‘elements’ which might initially provide the basis for a series of small exhibitions. In addition it was agreed to produce one piece of historical research: The Building of the Mauritania. In the event Sirkka Liisa Konttinen, Graham Smith, Marketa Luskacova and Isabella Jedrzejczyk worked on the projects which included: Jedrzejczyk’s Urban Landscapes and Jungle Portraits, a portrait of a pub; Luskacova’s and Konttinen’s documentation of seaside leisure activities; Luskacova’s Juvenile Jazz Bands and Smith and Konttinen’s photographing of North Shields. The photographers worked with an open brief once the areas of concern had been agreed and essentially the work is their vision of North Tyneside.
Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen also photographed family portraits and home interiors on various housing estates in North Shields and these are the photographs which emerged. An exhibition featuring the work from all the projects was shown in 1981.