“When attending art school in the early 1970’s my interests lay in drawing and painting. Everything had become conceptual. I found the photography department sane and down to earth.”
So says renowned North East photographer, Ian Macdonald whose work is the subject of a double venue retrospective exhibition in Sunderland, opening this weekend.
Fixing Time will put Middlesbrough-born Ian’s photographs in the frame across spaces at both Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens (Jul 20-Jan 4, 2025) and the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art (July 20 to Nov 3).
His career has been dedicated to making photographs ‘about life and work as I find it’ and visitors to this exhibition will see the evolution of working-class communities and the rise and fall of industry in Teesside and Cleveland.
Ian’s images have been featured in numerous exhibitions across the UK including The Royal Academy, The Photographers Gallery and the Serpentine Gallery in London.
Meanwhile his work is held in public and private art collections all over the world, including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Danish Royal Library in Copenhagen, the Navigation Foundation in Boston, the Martin Parr Foundation in Bristol, the Shipley Art Gallery in Gateshead, and the MIMA Collection in Middlesbrough.
The exhibition at Sunderland Museum spotlights key photographic series such as Heavy Industry, Smith’s Dock Shipyard, Redcar Blast Furnace, and School Portraits while the exhibition at NGCA delves into other significant series like The River Tees Estuary, Greatham Creek, and People, Towns and Portraits.
Jon Weston, curator of Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, said: “Ian’s extensive body of work aligns with the tradition of British documentary photography that emerged during the mid 1970s and into the 1980s, a period marked by huge political shifts and social upheaval.
“Ian took his first photograph aged six — using a Box Brownie to take a picture of his parents. Distinctive in his approach, Ian developed a unique style using traditional black-and-white film and print-making techniques.
“This distinctive aesthetic not only reflects his artistic prowess but also signifies his growing confidence in employing photography as a tool to address the pressing issues observed and lived during that transformative era.”
Fixing Time also incorporates lesser-explored areas of Ian’s photographic practice, including unseen portraits captured in secondary schools across England over a span of 35 years.
Jon added: “The exhibition also features detailed large-scale drawings — testaments to Ian’s skill as a trained draughtsman — which often serve as precursors to his photographic projects.
“The exhibition incorporates a wealth of photographs, archival materials, publications, and videos, offering a deeper understanding of the ‘quiet man of British documentary photography’ and highlighting Ian’s substantial contribution to British photography.”
After more than half a century of documenting the world through a lens, Ian has only one piece of advice for anyone thinking of becoming a photographer.
“If you wish to make photographs only photograph what you like; then after a while maybe a year or so you’ll begin to find your way. You need to learn to reject much of what you do and to put up with failure, as it always comes along.”
For more information on Fixing Time, visit the NGCA website.
