Beyond Caring

First MACK edition (2021).

Large format hardback in new condition.

Signed by Paul Graham to an extra image plate, glued into the inside back cover.

About Beyond Caring

So, originally self-published in 1985, Paul Graham’s renowned series, ‘Beyond Caring’, was made in the waiting rooms and corridors of the Social Security and Unemployment offices around the UK. It documents the long waits, queues and poor conditions of an overburdened system. Graham has produced a powerful series of photographs conveying the hardship people experienced. Furthermore, denied official permission to make the work, Graham’s photographs were taken discreetly. Usually without looking through the camera, resulting in a spatial disorientation that emphasised the unmoored distress of vulnerable citizens. The work shocked many on its release – leading Magnum photographers were outraged by its use of colour in a classic documentary topic, while others celebrated how it straddled the world of activism and art (it was exhibited at both Trade Union conferences and the Museum of Modern Art, New York). Graham forged a fresh form of engaged photography, mixing elements of social documentary, ‘new colour’ and reportage. By doing so he created a striking body of work that endures to this day. Many decades have passed since their making in 1984, but these images have grown not only in photographic importance, but also as a unique historic record of the mid-1980s unemployment crisis in the UK. This edition of Beyond Caring is also part of Graham’s iconic 1980’s trilogy of UK books, which also includes A1 – The Great North Road (2020) and Troubled Land (Fall 2021).

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