Making the Personal Public:

Richard Billingham

What, then, do we make of photographers who set out to put into the public domain that which is typically private in nature?

For example, Richard Billingham’s photographs of his alcoholic father and the everyday life of his parents’ lives in the West Midlands parachute the viewer right into the middle of someone else's domestic context.

Ray in bed 1999 © the artist, Anthony Reynolds Gallery, London

How does the viewer deal with this? We might feel uncomfortable, voyeuristic even, peering into Ray and Liz Billingham's living room and seeing their working class lifestyle in the raw. We might feel compassion for the family members as they deal with the slow deterioration of the father through alcohol abuse. We might admire the photographer son for escaping and building a life despite, or because of his home circumstances.

Howsoever we react, we can be sure that Billingham wants us there; wants us to see life as he does; wants us to share the experience. Otherwise, he wouldn't make public his private world through his work.

Untitled, 1995

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