Phil Maxwell In Liverpool

Contributing Photographer Phil Maxwell, whose book BRICK LANE we published in 2014, moved back from Whitechapel to his home town of Liverpool a few years ago and now has begun publishing his shrewd and affectionate images of the city in a series of photo books. The pictures below are from volume one which has just been released. Click here to buy a copy

 

 

‘I first came to Liverpool in 1972, aged eighteen, and remained for ten years. The city became my ‘University of Life,’ where I made friends, went clubbing, photographed the streets, listened to people a lot wiser than me, and grew up. It left an indelible mark on my consciousness and outlook on life, and it was the perfect place to begin my photographic journey.

Most of these photographs were taken on black-and-white film that I processed myself, and the rest on transparency film that I would post off to be developed and receive back a week later. Many of the places captured here have since been demolished and disappeared, but the memories associated with those places remain vivid thanks to the miracle of photography.

I moved from Liverpool to the East End of London in 1982 to the eleventh floor of a tower block near Brick Lane. The area was run down with derelict buildings, poor overcrowded housing, and resilient people trying to scrape together a living. I made friends, set about photographing the area and its diverse inhabitants, and began organising exhibitions of my work. I have taken more photographs of the East End than anywhere else and I still take photographs there several times each year, even after returning to Liverpool in 2015.’

-Phil Maxwell

 

Outside the Willowbank pub, 1982

Waiting for the Pope,  Smithdown Rd, 1982

Waiting for the Pope,  Smithdown Rd, 1982

Waiting for the Pope,  Smithdown Rd, 1982

Waiting for the Pope,  Smithdown Rd, 1982

Waiting for the Pope,  Smithdown Rd, 1982

Bootle, seventies

Long Lane, eighties

Toxteth, 1975

Earle Rd, seventies

Long Lane, seventies

Off Picton Rd,  seventies

Earle Rd, seventies

Picton, seventies

Near Princes Rd, seventies

Dingle, seventies

Rathbone Rd, seventies

Picton, seventies

Off High Park St, seventies

Photographs copyright © Phil Maxwell