Mass Observation.

The Whitechapel gallerys exhibition titled 'nothing beautiful unless useless' celebrates works in public collections across the North west of England and poses the question - what role should art play in social change. Amongst works from the pre raphaelites and Lowry there was a group of photographs and a video which introduced me to the radical social research organisation that came about in the 1930s and 40s;  Mass observation. 

Headed by anthropologist Tom Harrison, poet Charles Madge and filmmaker Humprey Jennings, the organisation aimed to create a new kind of realism in response to the econnomic and political conditions leading up to World War II, striving to prouduce an 'anthropology of ourselves' through artistic means and collecting anecdotal evidence from peoples everyday lives and experiences. 

These photographs strike up strong similarity's with the photographs of Martin Parr and Tony Ray-Jones down to the honesty and motive of pure documentation. The work for me seems nostalgic; glimpses into the past of my personal culture and life that i have never actually experienced.