I’m a new resident of Manchester and I am still finding my way around. I’ve been here two years, and moved to be close to my daughter. I didn’t even realise we had a People’s History Museum before this event, but it really is a fascinating space.
Ian Beesley and Ian McMillan produce chapbooks together. These are 16-page books made from one piece of paper. They create limited editions to pay for further work. There were so many mentioned. They produced a chapbook of damp, which might surprise you, but damp has a shape and can be beautiful.
Beesley’s presentation was fascinating and very disciplined. He’s artist in residence at Gallery Oldham. He’s a quirky photographer and has a polarised view. He’s anti-management and is much more interested in the worker. He also has the real advantage of coming from the inside. People get to know him and open up to him. He spent time with people who weren’t usually available to photograph.
McMillan is the jam on the toast of Beesley, spreading his words carefully and lovingly. The two of them really inspired me. I’m a British working man, never on the factory floor though, no hunk. I was generally a clerk of sorts, bank, wages, records. But I didn’t always gel in those situations.
I was a photojournalist for 40 years. I worked at the Sunday Times magazine for four and then went freelance. I did some big stories. In 1982 I photographed a heart transplant operation. I was very proud of that.
I always had [Magnum photographer] Robert Capa’s famous quote in mind when taking photos: “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you aren’t close enough.” I always tried to give people a good clear idea of what I was looking at. If it was beautiful I wanted the beauty demonstrated. If it was ugly, I wanted that ugliness brought out. I wanted my images to be very clear.
I was fascinated by some of the stories behind Beesley’s pictures. He asked the workers at the steel mill for the names of the people they had worked with. It turned out they used nicknames that were very literary within that particular culture. The managing director was called the Acid Bath Murderer. I also loved some of the jobs that were listed. There was a poet – what would a poet be doing in a steel mill?
This event took place at the People’s History Museum on 14 July. To find out about upcoming Guardian Live events sign up to become a member.
