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Mik Critchlow (Photographer)
Original Side Gallery exhibition text, 1988:
In May 1987 North East photographer Mik Critchlow began a major project which dealt with the lifestyle and working environment of merchant seamen. Financed by a commission from Side Gallery and a production award from Northern Arts, the project was itself a ‘return journey’: Mik had spent many years as a seaman himself before leaving the industry in 1977.
Throughout 1987 Mik had been spending time on shore and onboard colliers and oil tankers, when in December the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company tried to impose new working agreements which included loss of pay/leave entitlement and also manning cuts and redundancies. Mik was there to record the resulting dispute, which rapidly spread as other operators and P&O Ferries in particular followed suit. As the strike grew in Dover, Mik went south to photograph the dispute from the seamen’s side, working closely with one family in particular.
I did not go with the intention of photographing conflict or picket violence - on the rare occasions when this happened, it was wholly due to the volatile nature of the dispute and total lack of sensitivity on the part of the police force, working hand in hand with the company in a media war to sway public opinion away from the cause of the seamen. Mik Critchlow