Tales from the Second Cities Manchester 1988–1992 - Richard Davis

Tales from the Second Cities Manchester 1988–1992 - Richard Davis - Café Royal Books

Davis was born in Birmingham. He moved from Birmingham to study photography at Manchester Polytechnic (now Manchester Metropolitan University) in 1988. Whilst living in the city, he quickly started documenting life in the inner-city area of Hulme, its huge brutalist inspired concrete Crescents, as well as its many characters that inhabited the flats, many of which were squatters.

Davis also photographed stars of the Madchester scene as well as taking early portraits of comedians Steve Coogan and Caroline Aherne along with the poet Lemn Sissay.

Davis also photographed Nirvana live on their first tour of the United Kingdom in 1989, photoghraphs of which were used in the BBC Two documentary film, When Nirvana Came to Britain.

In the early 1990s Davis teamed up with author Steve Redhead to work on a project called Football With Attitude, his photographs making the links between music, football and fashion.

More recently, Davis made a series of portraits of Mancunians under the Mancunian Way, a document of life around Gravelly Hill Interchange, the original spaghetti junction, in Birmingham and a set of photographs capturing life in the coastal resort of Morecambe.

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

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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