When discussing the selection of photographs for the RPS 155th International Print exhibition, Ian who shoots almost exclusively on film, says: “It is encouraging in this digital/inkjet age, that photographers still acknowledge the importance of the print as an artefact. It is the tactility and uniqueness of a photographic print that creates that bond between the hand and eye of the creator with the hand and eye of the viewer”
Ian Beesley was born in Bradford West Yorkshire in 1954. In 1973 he bought his first camera and began to photograph his workmates at Esholt Sewage Works. He was encouraged to study photography and graduated from Bournemouth and Poole College of Art in 1977. In 1978 he began what has become a lifelong study of the decline of industrial society and its impact on community.
Ian is best known for projects such as ‘The Drift’ and ‘A Place of Work’, documenting the industrial history of the north. From 2007 to 2011 Ian was artist in residence at Bradford Royal Infirmary, producing a series of photographs of fathers with their new-born babies, portraits of New Year’s Day babies and images of sets of twins and triplets born in Bradford.
He has produced over twenty books of his work and has been exhibited both nationally and internationally. His work is held in major collections such as the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Imperial War Museum. Ian is currently the MA Photography course leader at the University of Bolton.
www.ianbeesley.com
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| from 'Born in Bradford' © Ian Beesley |
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| from 'The Drift' © Ian Beesley |
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