STEELWORKS (Great Britain, 1990)
For almost a century-and-a-half Consett, in County Durham, England, was a centre for iron and steel production. That is, until the factories closed their doors in 1980. These were the early days of Thatcherism, a period when massive cuts were being made in Britain’s old industries, without the least concern for the social consequences. In his book Steelworks Julian Germain recorded the collapse of Consett. To do this he combined his own work with that of a local news photographer, Tommy Harris, and family snapshots and journalistic reports. Unintentionally, this approach put Germain in the vanguard of a new movement in documentary photography. Germain contrasted the naive optimism of the past with the loss that speaks from his own colour photographs and the news reporting of the day, creating a harrowing picture of a devastated community.