Image: an image of his mother Liz
Richard Billingham’s photographs from the series rays a laugh are very inspiring in the way that they are very personal and they raise the question of should we be seeing this? is this oversharing? I found it intriguing when I found out the photos were originally taken to be turned into paintings as he thought it was quite sad and wanted to express the tragedy of it all, but he found our they didn’t need to be paintings the photos stand as a piece of work on their own and they are effective on their own, and if he had have painted them it could have changed the meaning behind them where as the photos are more real and interesting. They are shocking in their own right and they give quite a honest look in to how Billingham grew up and what living in poverty was like for him.
Alysha Fisk Research 