Photography
Side Photographic Collection
Through its own production, support, purchase and retrieval, Amber has built up a significant photographic collection. Where possible, we're putting this work online.
The photographic engagement with the North of England has produced a remarkable enough body of work, but since Side Gallery opened in 1977, this has been extended through exhibition purchases and donations to include a wide-ranging representation of the international classic and contemporary documentary that continues to inspire us. Where we hold the rights and/or where the photographer gives permission, we're committed to putting as much of this work online as possible. As funding allows, new exhibitions will appear and some exhibitions will be developed further. Side Gallery, through the work of which so much of this collection has been achieved, is supported by Arts Council England.
Weegee Collection
Weegee (Photographer)
Classic documentary photographs of New York taken between the 1930s and the 1960s. See Weegee the Famous on SideTV during March. The work was given to Amber by Weegee's widow Wilma Wilcox following Side Gallery's organisation of the first tour of his work in the UK in the early 1980s.
Wheatley Hill
Mary Gillens (Photographer)
The County Durham mining village of Wheatley Hill documented from the 1920s onwards by a member of the community.
Wills' Factory
Isabella Jedrzejczyk (Photographer), Ellin Hare (Writer)
The last days of a Newcastle upon Tyne cigarette factory, 1986, documented by the photographer who worked as part of the Side Gallery operation, with a text by Amber member Ellin Hare.
Working the Landscape: Images of Frosterley
Richard Grassick (Photographer), Jane Greenwell (Photographer), George Dodsworth (Photographer), Pete Maddison (Photographer)
Exploration of the village of Frosterley in South West Durham by Darlington Media Group, 1980s.
The Arab Boarding House
Peter Fryer 2 (Photographer)
Yemeni seamen settled in South Shields from the late C19th. Along with Somali seamen, they represent the first significant Muslim community in Britain
Kanaval by Leah Gordon
Vodou, Politics and Revolution on the streets of Haiti.
Writing in the Sand
Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen (Photographer)
The life of beaches in the North East of England, captured between 1973 and 1998.
Workington and Maryport
John Rigby (Photographer)
Two West Cumbrian towns photographed in the mid-1980s, particularly looking at the docks and summer carnivals.
Murray Martin - The Album
Photographs of Murray Martin (1943 to 2007) with funeral addresses by fellow Amber members Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen and Peter Roberts and an obituary.