film

The film uses the extraordinary photos made by Tish, then in her early 20s, to recapture the lives of youths in Newcastle, particularly in the tough, working class Elswick district.

For all the family anecdotes and readings of Tish’s formidably trenchant view, it’s the pictures here that are worth a thousand words.

It’s fitting that this documentary (directed by Paul Sng) also has a strong personal touch.

[An] engrossing, affectionate film...

Paul Sng’s documentary Tish is one of the best British films of 2023 – both a heartfelt tribute to the life and work of the late photographer Tish (born Patricia) Murtha and a timely reminder of the war waged on the nation’s industrial working-class.

.. A documentary that takes a hammer to the myth that a rags-to-riches artistic ascension awaits the bold.

The film is handsome, but Sng keeps nudging the spotlight away from his own creative decisions: back towards the photographs, and the presence on-camera of Murtha’s daughter, Ella, a sensitive interviewer of friends and colleagues.

Details leap out from the photographs, not just the faces of those she captured, but the twist of cigarette smoke, metal ashtrays recalling the tang of wet ash, plasters on scrubbed knees.

Tish is a tremendous, humane tribute to a real artist.