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#fromthelibrary 3 – Paul Graham on the shelves at CU_Photography

Students from Coventry University will be visiting the Paul Graham exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery, London next week. And so it seemed appropriate to add a bonus #fromthelibrary – highlighting the Paul Graham books on the shelf in the library.

It was great to find rare, original copies of Graham’s earlier books – ‘A1 The Great North Road’, ‘Beyond Caring’ and ‘Troubled Land’, along with ‘New Europe’, and the Phaidon ‘Contemporary Artists monograph’ offering a look at work between 1981 – 1996.

All books are now back on the library shelves for the students to discover before our visit.

– Matt Johnston

A1 The Great North Road, 1983
Paul Graham

Lorry Driver, Beacon Services, South Mimms, Hertfordshire, May 1982 ©PAUL GRAHAM

Images Online: http://www.paulgrahamarchive.com/a1.html
Here, in Graham’s first publication, he documents both the physical landscape and people that inhabit the roadside service stations, rest-stops and motels of the Great North Road in order to ‘weave a picture of England in the 1980’s’.

Beyond Caring, 1986
Paul Graham

Horse Poster, DHSS Office, Bristol, 1984 ©PAUL GRAHAM


Images online
: http://www.paulgrahamarchive.com/beyondcaring.html#a
‘Beyond Caring’ chronicles the state of employment in 80’s Britain through images made in the waiting rooms, corridors and cubicles of the department of social security and department of employment.

Trouble Land, The social landscape of Northern Ireland, 1987
Paul Graham

Graffiti, Ballysillan Estate, Belfast, 1986 ©PAUL GRAHAM

Images Online: http://www.paulgrahamarchive.com/troubledland.html
Troubled Land was Graham’s last book produced in the 80’s and followed the style of the two previous publications via ‘Grey Editions’. This time examining the subtle relationship between the landscape of Northern Ireland and the ‘troubles of its society’.

New Europe, 1993
Paul Graham

Page 1, New Europe ©PAUL GRAHAM

Images Online: http://www.paulgrahamarchive.com/neweurope.html
‘New Europe seeks to dig beneath the utopian dream of a united continent arising to face the 21st century. Paul Graham’s photographs reflect on the inescapable shadow of history that falls over each nation’s conscience, from the dictatorships of Franco and Hitler, to the Holocaust and the Irish conflict.’ (From back cover of ‘New Europe’)


Paul Graham Contemporary Artists monograph, Phaidon Press, 1996
Paul Graham, Phaidon

Phaidon - Paul Graham 1981-1996

This book features a collection of Graham’s images, along with essays and an interview to provide a solid overview of his work up to 1996. The extensive interview with Gillian Wearing, is alone worth the read and to find a conversation with the great Lewis Baltz at the end of the book is a great treat.

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