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Walking In A New World

February 10, 2023

In the 1980s I remember getting annoyed with editors when they cropped my photographs. Who would have thought that forty years later I would be harvesting different figures from images and creating new compositions!

The image below was made from three different files. Everyone I photograph on the street are in their own world. What are they thinking? Where are they going? Where have they been? What will happen to them in the future? These are some of the questions that occur to me when I review my street photographs of people frozen in time. I think the image below represents my curiosity about the individuals and my speculation about their lives.

I’ve always believed that all humans are linked together in a number of ways despite cultural, class or economic circumstances. These two individuals may have a lot in common although it’s likely their paths will never cross; both were photographed in different cities. The work therefore also explores the element of chance in all our lives.

They’ve been placed in an imaginary landscape which is a detail from a painting I made on the inside of a discarded corn flake box. Once the assembled image was printed I then worked on it with watercolour and pencil. Ultimately I’m attempting to get the viewer to look at the two subjects more closely unfettered by the street environment I photographed them in individually.

‘Walking In A New World’. Mixed media 2023.
‘Walking In A New World’ (detail). Mixed media 2023.
‘Walking In A New World’ (detail). Mixed media 2023.

You can purchase photographs and other art by Phil Maxwell here: https://theartofresistance.bigcartel.com/products

Around Liverpool (36)

February 9, 2023
On the 79 bus. Liverpool August 2022.
Supermarket on Smithdown Road. Liverpool April 2022.
Runner on Lime Street. Liverpool August 2022.
Children on the street. Liverpool c.1979
Passing a shop in Wavertree. Liverpool 1979.
On the phone on Wavertree High Street. Liverpool April 2022.
Scooter on Lime Street. Liverpool August 2022.
Bootle, Liverpool 1980
Having a smoke in Bootle, Liverpool 1980.
Smithdown Road. Liverpool April 2022.
Wavertree High Street. Liverpool August 2022.
In a pub on Smithdown Road. Liverpool April 2022.

You can purchase photographs and other art by Phil Maxwell here: https://theartofresistance.bigcartel.com/products

Around Liverpool (35)

February 8, 2023
Leaving the bus on Wavertree High Street. Liverpool April 2022.
On the 79 bus in Wavertree. Liverpool, December 2018.
Smithdown Road. Liverpool April 2022.
Waiting for the Pope to drive down Smithdown Road. Liverpool 1982.
Campaigners outside the former One Stop Shop (closed by the Council) on Picton Road. Liverpool April 2022.
Trump protest, Liverpool 2017
Anti Trump protest, Liverpool 2017.
Members of the Liverpool Philharmonic orchestra. Liverpool April 2022.
Tuning before the performance. Liverpool Philharmonic 2017.
Tuning before the performance. Liverpool Philharmonic 2017.
Wellington Road. Liverpool April 2022.
Conversation at the bar. The Dispensary pub, Renshaw Street. Liverpool, August 2019.

You can purchase photographs and other art by Phil Maxwell here: https://theartofresistance.bigcartel.com/products

Food Bank Britain

January 30, 2023

During the recent nurses strike I spoke to a number of strikers who knew of colleagues using food banks or were using them themselves. As the cost of living soars more than half of NHS trusts and health boards are either providing or planning food banks for staff.

According to the Royal College of Nursing their members on average work an extra 6 hours for no extra pay each week. During the pandemic politicians lined up to have their photographs taken as they clapped for NHS workers. Now they are refusing to pay them a living wage for the incredible life saving work they do.

I hope the photomontage below expresses the outrage that millions of people in the UK feel about the lying, corrupt and hypocritical political class that rules over us. No one should have to use a food bank in the sixth richest economy in the world. Solidarity with everyone fighting back against the economic system that has brought a wretched poverty and life to millions in food bank Britain.

‘Food Bank Britain’ Photomontage January 2023.

You can purchase photographs and other art by Phil Maxwell here: https://theartofresistance.bigcartel.com/products

The Bridge

January 23, 2023
Woman walking under the bridge in Wheeler Street. London 1987
Woman walking under the bridge in Wheeler Street. London 1987.
Bangladesh 1996
Crossing a bridge in Sylhet. Bangladesh 1996.
Railway and motorcycle bridge. Hanoi, Vietnam 2019.
Regents Canal c.1988
Bridge over the Regents Canal. London.
Woman walking under the Bridge in Brick Lane, London 2012
Woman walking under the Bridge in Brick Lane, London 2012.
Crossing the railway foot bridge from Cheshire Street. East London 2018.
Three people cross a bridge, Spitalfields 1984
Three people cross the bridge, Spitalfields 1984.
Smoking and listening under a bridge in Braithwaite Street. East London, August 2018.

You can purchase photographs and other art by Phil Maxwell here: https://theartofresistance.bigcartel.com/products