Thatcher’s Children was born out of a series first made in 1992 focusing on two parents and six children living in a hostel for homeless families in Blackpool, England. The project was made in response to a speech by Peter Lilley, then Secretary of State for Social Security, in which he announced his determination to ‘close down the something-for-nothing society.’ French newspaper Libération dispatched a journalist to northern England to find out what this society looked like, and Easton was commissioned to take the accompanying photographs. His resulting monochrome images of the overcrowded two-bedroom council flat in Blackpool sparked a reaction by both the public and the press. His images attached human faces and nuanced realities to a group of people casually maligned by politicians and media as an ‘underclass of scroungers.’
Decades later Easton revisited the project and tried to find the family with the simple intention of sharing his original images and to fill in the intervening years. When he found them, their current situations carried echoes of the past. Both generations were impacted by housing insecurity and dependence on a labyrinthine welfare system which led to a precarious nature of existence. The vital difference is that in the 1990s it was unemployment that led to hardship, whereas now in the 2020s most of the family are in work and yet are still confronted by similar financial challenges.
Easton’s original connection with the family, and their trust of him, had endured. He began to visit them regularly, taking trips to the supermarket, hanging out in their living rooms, attending weddings and witnessing moments of crisis and resolution. His recent photographs, combined with the early images, create a portrait of deprivation in modern Britain and of the ongoing disconnect between policy makers and poorer citizens.
The photographs in the book are combined with quotes from the family juxtaposed with those from politicians. Families like the Williams’ are often talked about but rarely listened to, and their words and experiences expose the contradictions and false promises by those in power. The ‘children’ of the book’s title refer not only to the family featured in the photographs, but also the politicians and wider society who are all influenced or impacted by empty aspirations of ‘social mobility.’ The influence of the political thought and policy, from the 1980s—and Thatcher’s slogan, ‘There is no alternative’—still pervades. Easton’s project challenges the acceptance of this.
Exhibition information
Is Anybody Listening? - Craig Easton
Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool: 12 January - 26 February 2023
Blackpool School of Art: 11 April – 31 May 2023
New Adelphi Gallery, University of Salford: 18 September - 22 December 2023
Williamson Art Gallery and Museum, Birkenhead: 25 January 2024 - 30 March 2024
Accompanied by Our Time, Our Place engagement programme
