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No place like home?

14 March 2013

"I have forgotten the language of my fathers and have not yet learned the language of my children."

Launched today, 14 March 2013, is our latest online exhibtion I Belong Jarrow by Chris Harrison. It will be online until 8 May and there is also a book of the project.

Chris Harrison writes: "I was born and brought up in Jarrow, a tough industrial town on the south bank of the River Tyne. It’s where I call home. 

"I have lived abroad for more years than I care to admit. My mother and father are getting old and moving out of Jarrow, cutting me adrift with no way back. Finally, I have been forced to think about who I am and where I belong. 

"I never wanted to leave Jarrow. I always imagined that one day I would make it my home. I realise now that I can never return. Somehow I traded knowledge of the outside world for some vital piece of me. With this realisation, I have returned home in order to try to establish how much of where I am from determines who I am, and to begin to understand why I can’t seem to let go. 

"Hopefully, by photographing the places I know intimately I can show something we all instinctively recognise; that, as L.P. Hartley said so eloquently 'The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.' “

  

About Chris Harrison
Chris Harrison has been a photographer for over 20 years. He was born in Jarrow in 1967 and took an MA in photography at the Royal College of Art. His work has been shown in venues around the world including the Tate Britain and Les Rencontres d’Arles. www.chrisharrison.no

I Belong Jarrow is published by Schilt Publishing and, distributed by Thames & Hudson. Chris Harrison’s photographs are accompanied by an essay written by Val Williams. ISBN: 978 90 5330 780 9 Retail Price: £27.50 

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