Pete Doherty | Northumberland

In Northumberland, boxing photographer Pete Doherty reassembles the fragments of a life suddenly altered by illness and loss.

After the death of both his parents–his father from a stroke and, within a year, his mother from breast cancer–he realized an invisible line had been drawn that represented before and after; old life, new life; the known world and the unknown world. The only way for him to make sense of this new existence was by reconstructing the pieces of his life, bringing all the aspects of his community together as a whole.

Renowned for his photographs of boxing, Doherty used his access as a participant to photograph fellow boxers in various stages of their amateur and professional careers. Offering an insider’s perspective, his intimate portraits and action shots, made during training sessions and bouts, create a inclusive view of that sport. Doherty has always used a very linear, more traditional approach in sequencing his photographs in his monograph book and solo exhibitions. This project, Northumberland, is a distinctly different series, almost like chapters or sentences in a book, that together create a comprehensive, poetic, and non-linear form. With this series, he, in some way, continues a conversation with his parents, as he tries to understand how to photograph grief and loss, how to not romanticize, exploit or trivialize it.

In bringing these seemingly disparate (in some cases) images together, he creates an aesthetic that invokes questions, and gestures or realignment (past/present/future) and creates a comprehensive but challenging body of work that depicts being alive in a world where loves ones are suddenly gone. His colour and B&W photographs illustrate the spaces we inhabit and enliven personal artifacts that serve to illustrate lives lived. His approach enables viewers time to reflect on their personal experiences with aging, eldercare, and grief.

Stephen Bulger | Stephen Bulger Gallery