The book is a collection of black and white photographs that document the decline of industry and the economic hardships faced by working-class communities in the north of England during the 1970s and 1980s.

Wunderschöne, erweiterte neu-gestaltete Auflage des legendären Fotobuch-Klassikers von 1988: Martin Parr, The Photobook vol 2, Seite 299. Chris Killip ‘the objective history of England doesn’t amount to much if you don’t believe in it, and I don’t, and I don’t believe that anyone in these photographs does either as they face the reality of de-industrialisation in a system which regards their lives as disposable. In Flagrante is a dark, pessimistic journey, perhaps even a secret odyssey, where rigorous documentary is suffused with a contemplative inwardness, a rare quality in modern photography. For me that was important, that you’re acknowledging people’s lives, and also contextualising people’s lives.As a freelancer, she has written for The Guardian, FT Weekend Magazine, Creative Review, Aperture, FOAM, Aesthetica and Apollo. Released in 1988 and showing communities reeling from the effects of de-industrialisation, it was immediately hailed as a classic – and read as a statement against Margaret Thatcher, the Prime Minister most identified with the process of de-industrialisation. For Killip it’s the latest step in an ongoing process that kicked off in 2012, when he was given a major retrospective at Essen’s Museum Folkwang. In Flagrante Two is strident in its belief in the primacy of the photograph, embracing ambiguities and contradictions in an unadorned narrative sequence devoid of text.

With 50 black and white photographs: a view of Britain in the eighties reflecting the stark reality of industrial society in decline.

The fifty photographs of In Flagrante serve as the foundation of this exhibition, which includes maquettes, contact sheets, and work prints to reveal the artist’s process.

But the images show] this is what it was like, these ships were made here, this is how they made them – this place has a history, a big history. First, he never believed his images could make a difference, he says, as he’s never believed that photographs alone can be a tool for change. Going back to his archive to prepare, he found prints he hadn’t looked at in 30 years, he explains – even images he’d never printed. Killip sees his photography as a kind of “people’s history”, and tells a great story to illustrate it, which starts with visiting an American friend. Sarah Kent in a review said of the Youth on Wall, Jarrow, Tyneside, 1976, ‘This image personifies Thatcher’s Britain’,” he tells me.To the people in these photographs I am superfluous, my life does not depend upon their struggle, only my hopes. Nearly 30 years later, speaking just ahead of his show at the Getty Museum, Now Then: Chris Killip and the Making of In Flagrante, that sense of history is stronger than ever. Join photographer Chris Killip, whose work is featured in the exhibition, as he discusses the creation of his groundbreaking photobook In Flagrante (1988) and the decision to republish it decades later. Join artist Chris Killip as he shares his process of making photographs and remembers the people and places of In Flagrante.

By the time this particular man reaches the top of the stairs, his individual legs will feel too tired for this particular concept to bloom. In Flagrante is a book of 50 photographs taken in the 70s and 80s documenting the lives of those who had depended on disbanded coal industries in northern England. I went back three years ago to where the beach was and it’s so shocking because it’s not there,” says Killip.

Everyone then stared to refer to Thatcher, though there were four prime ministers while I was photographing. Similarly, his images of the seacoal beach – where people scavenged for coal washed up from a nearby power station and mine – show a landscape and a community that have now vanished. He grew up in a square in the centre of Boston, it’s been demolished, it’s now where the civic centre stands and all the municipal buildings, but he was standing there pointing out imaginary streets and who had lived there, who had gone on to make a lot of money, who ended up in jail, who ended up in the mob, who ended up in politics,” he says.