Peter Mitchell (b. 1943) is a Documentary Photographer who specialises in capturing the British landscape and various suburban/mixed urban tones. Most well known for his shoots like the one below, this one being "a new refutation of the Viking 4 space mission". This was one of Mitchell's most popular exhibitions of photography and links into his overall style of "strangely familiar", which originated from his documentation of Leeds. Strangely familiar photography as a concept was to describe the documentation an alien race may follow when first arriving on Earth. It just so happened they landed in Leeds first.
As described by Mitchell in a BBC News interview, the photography has a "gritty style of sentimentality", where it combines both the nostalgia of these buildings but also the brutal structuralist vibe of 1970s urbanism
Photo One
To introduce ourselves to Mitchell's photography, we start with a photo of a traditional high-street storefront for selling fish products. The photo emanates a very British aura of brisk isolation, where we are reminded of a typical reminiscent scene we may have seen in an overcast 70s evening. Taken in Leeds, Yorkshire, it captures the whole-hearted energy of architecture, personality and more. Looking directly at the two staff members on the right third of the image, this depicts how it is a very small business, only requiring two members in-store at a time. Not only this, but the lack of other life overall creates a narrative of slow business in an evidently residential area, as people seem to be moving on to shopping elsewhere, in the Americanised ideals of hypermarkets.
The encroaching of residential buildings to the left flank of the storefront also depicts the rapid suburban growth of the new developments post WWII. This store has likely stood for many years and initially grew with the buildings surrounding it, but instead grew on its own without any other commercial facilities from what we can see, which affirms the sense of isolation found in the photo.
Photo Two
In the second photo, we have a much more blatant and raw scene of Leeds, in what looks like an abandoned project development. Superimposing over the landscape is a polarising telephone box, clad in its notorious red colour, though muted because of its extensive time of residing there. The scene itself gives an unnatural feel of isolation in an area otherwise expected to be populous and active. The fields and concrete areas found in the midground also intensify this, as it creates a distance between the telephone box and tenements. It is likely that this scene is of a soon-to-be-demolished zone beyond the phone box as in the 70s there was rapid development and redevelopment of buildings in the Yorkshire area, just like the country overall.
The juxtaposition of this traditional phone box in front of the then-modern constructs of the area's predicted future reminds one of the rapid progress humanity has been making since the industrial revolution, and the consumerist ideologies we have succumbed to. The story behind this development may be one of consumerism, similar to the Americanisation and introduction of supermarkets explained previously. The 60s constructivist and brutalist creations are being abandoned and left to rot for the new and improved functionalist designs of the 21st century. Yet, the only reminder of our past after the demolition of the projects will be the red phone box of decades prior, first introduced at the turn of the century.
To summarise, this photo gives radiant energy of capitalism and its impacts. The consumers of today abandon the products of the past to find the features of tomorrow. And yet, the second anything becomes obsolete it is thrown aside like a dissatisfied toddler throwing their toys out of view. An immature action in the hopes of finding a marginally better product.
Photo Three
Much like image 2, this photo reminisces on the idea of traditional juxtaposed by the "future". In this photo, we are accosted by the background, as it shows an ominous estate looming over two surviving townhouses of the area. On the right flank, a glimpse of a construction site where various other terraced houses may have usually stood.
Though projecting a similar idea, there is a much different mood from this photograph. It rather narrates a tale of the rapid growth of colonialistic residential companies, modernising the streets with new and improved housing to fit people into smaller and smaller areas, once again foretold through a juxtaposition of what is likely a home which wouldn't've lasted for much longer, and may have been bought out by a real estate company for demolition.
We see people sitting outside of the house on the low wall beside the door. This may be a signal of defeat that their home is on borrowed time, and that they have given up. I believe this to be true due to the concept of one taking time to sit in fresh air to have a breather after defeat. Moreover, they're sitting in very depressed positions, almost huddled together, which shows a small body area and can be linked to defeat.
Photo Four
To conclude, one which foretells a sign of the times. As we swiftly moved as a country closer to the 21st century, politics began to separate us in a more visible way than ever before. Most notably with the events of the Falklands, Vietnam and overarching Cold War, the siege of the London Iranian Embassy, and more. The beginning of segregation had come, through ideology, class and race. This photo in particular stands as a symbol of segregation in the UK, with one active house and a mirrored one beside it, except, the latter is boarded up and abandoned. In the middle we are met with a telephone pole, which acts as a barrier between the two houses - it manages this due to perspective and how it can create the illusion of it being a wall, prior to noticing the true object.
This separation between the two reminds us of our own separation, and how we manage to prevent many forms of unity as a society between each other, which in turn sparks conflict.
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