Salford 1977 #1 - Phil Portus

Salford 1977 #1 - Phil Portus - Café Royal Books

• 36 pages
• printed in the UK
• staple bound
• 14cm x 20cm

Phil Portus:

"In the mid to late 70s, I was part of a small group of photographers called the REFLEX GROUP which was led by Diane "Hank" Olson (aka Diane Bush), an American documentary photographer, who had previously worked in London with the EXIT Collective and exhibited at the Half Moon Gallery along with work published in Camerawork. The REFLEX GROUP had met up occasionally in between our individual Salford photo excursions. I concentrated mainly in Langworthy, Ordsall and some work in the Adelphi area. In 1978 we had a group exhibition held in the Salford Players Theatre on Liverpool Road. After the exhibition we all went our separate ways.

In the years that followed, I have traced some of the young people I had photographed and re-photographed them, listening to and recording their stories. In 2016 I had a small exhibition of some of these Salford images at St Clements Church, Ordsall, as part of a heritage weekend event."

About Café Royal Books:

"Café Royal Books is the idea of Craig Atkinson, an artist and lecturer. Our first title was published in 2005.

Craig wanted to create a way to make artwork accessible to a wider audience. The solution needed to be small, functional, open to collaboration, affordable, and work independently of galleries. These ideas remain at the heart of what we do.

We’re a small family-run publisher based in England, next to the woodland, dunes, and windswept beaches of the North West coast — we’re always inspired by the vastness, calm and energy of this environment. 

We make weekly publications, focussing on documentary photography linked to Britain and Ireland, printed and bound locally by a small 170 year old printing company. Libraries and museums around the world collect the books, so the work will remain preserved and accessible for many years. Our books don’t need batteries, or screens. We hope they will be used, create conversation and be passed down through family generations."

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