Boys at Devol, Port Glasgow
About this artwork
In 2004, Mark Neville spent a year as artist in residence in Port Glasgow, a town confronting, in concentrated form, the hardship of Scotland’s post-industrial decline. His stay resulted in a photographic book which he then distributed free as a gift to the community. The book, according to the Greenock Telegraph, caused a “sensation”, as locals expressed both their disgust and appreciation. This image shows seven boys swearing and taunting at the camera. Their confident and cocky behaviour belies the underlying issue that many of them will grow up and be met with few local jobs or prospects. With the project, Neville sought to reignite the potential of the documentary tradition. Photography, he insists, can and should be shared.
Updated before 2020
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artist:Mark Neville (born 1966) English
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title:Boys at Devol, Port Glasgow
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date created:2005
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materials:C-type print
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object type:
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credit line:Purchased 2008
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accession number:PGP 420.2
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gallery:
Mark Neville
Mark Neville
Mark Neville’s lens-based work centres on his interest in subverting genres within film-making and photography and is an investigation into how different types of film and photographic practice align themselves with diverse demographic groups. Neville is concerned with how images generally are...