Jim Mortram
{{Short description|British social documentary photographer and writer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
Jim A. Mortram (born 10 September 1971)"[https://www.facebook.com/pg/JAMortram/about/ About]"{{Better source|date=January 2019}}. Facebook. Accessed 23 April 2017 is a British social documentary photographer and writer, based in Dereham, Norfolk.{{cite news | url = https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/feb/19/people-photograph-dont-have-voice-jim-mortram-norfolk-portraits | date = 19 February 2014 | accessdate = 22 April 2017| first = Dave | last = Stelfox | work = The Guardian | title = 'I photograph people who don't have a voice': Jim Mortram's Norfolk portraits}}{{cite news | url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-19714366 | date = 27 September 2012 | accessdate = 22 April 2017 | first = Phil | last = Coomes | publisher = BBC News | title = Jim Mortram's Small Town Inertia}} His ongoing project using photography and writing, Small Town Inertia, records the lives of a number of disadvantaged and marginalised people living near to his home,{{cite web | url = http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/technique/photography_masterclasses/metering-masterclass-88297 | date = 23 July 2016 | accessdate = 23 April 2017 | publisher = Amateur Photographer | title = Metering masterclass: achieving perfect exposures in different lighting conditions}} in order to tell stories he believes are under-reported. This work is published on his website, in a few zines published in 2013,{{cite web | url = https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/caf-royal-publish-one-photography-book-every-week-237 | date = 25 November 2014 | accessdate = 23 April 2017 | first = Amelia | last = Abraham | publisher = Vice | title = Café Royal Publish Exactly One Great Photobook Every Week}} and in the book Small Town Inertia (2017).
''Small Town Inertia''
Mortram began the Small Town Inertia website in 2006 with the "Market Town" stories. Its name is a reference to the market town of Dereham, where he lives, fifteen miles west of the city of Norwich in Norfolk. Through photography, his writing and the subject's own words, Mortram records the lives of the disadvantaged and marginalised, making repeated visits with a number of people living within three miles of his home.{{cite news | url = http://metro.co.uk/2012/07/25/photographer-jim-mortram-gives-new-voice-to-marginalised-in-market-town-507869/ | date = 25 Jul 2012 | accessdate = 22 April 2017| first = Ross | last = McGuinness | publisher = Metro | title = Photographer Jim Mortram gives new voice to marginalised in Market Town}} Small Town Inertia tells stories of "isolation, poverty, drug abuse, homelessness, self-harm, mental illness, juvenile crime, and epilepsy", that Mortram believes are otherwise under-reported.
Dave Stelfox wrote in The Guardian that "Mortram's rich, black-and-white images possess a timeless quality that invites easy comparison with the classic documentary work of such British photographers as Chris Steele Perkins, Paul Trevor and Chris Killip."
Publications
=Publications by Mortram=
- Small Town Inertia. Liverpool: Bluecoat. With a poem by Jamie Thrashivoulou, "A Privatised Map of Deprivation", and essays by Paul Mason, "A Memento of the Dark Times", and Lewis K. Bush, "A War of Poverty". Hardback, 2017; {{ISBN|978-1908457363}}. Paperback, 2018; {{ISBN|9781908457370}}.
=Zines by Mortram=
- Electric Tears and All Their Portent. Southport: Café Royal, 2013. Edition of 150 copies.[https://archive.caferoyalbooks.com/2020/01/electric-tears-and-all-their-portent-j.html Electric Tears and All Their Portent] in the Café Royal Books archive.
- Living with Epilepsy. Southport: Café Royal, 2013. Edition of 150 copies.[https://archive.caferoyalbooks.com/2020/01/living-with-epilepsy-j-mortram.html Living with Epilepsy] in the Café Royal Books archive.
- Small Town Inertia: Diary Entries. Southport: Café Royal, 2013. Edition of 150 copies. With a short text by George Szirtes.[https://archive.caferoyalbooks.com/2020/02/small-town-inertia-diary-entries-j.html Small Town Inertia: Diary Entries] in the Café Royal Books archive.
- Second edition. Southport: Café Royal, 2022.
- Small Town Inertia: Diary Entries 2. Southport: Café Royal, 2022. With a short essay by Michael Sheen.[https://www.caferoyalbooks.com/shop/j-a-mortram-small-town-inertia-diary-entries-1-2 Small Town Inertia: Diary Entries 2] in the Café Royal Books archive.
=Publications with contributions by Mortram=
- Professional Photography: The New Global Landscape Explained. Oxford: Focal, 2014. By Grant Scott. {{ISBN|978-0415717540}}. With contributions from Mortram, Alicia Bruce, Peter Dench, Chris Floyd, and Niall McDiarmid.
Solo exhibitions
- Small Town Inertia, Bank Street Arts, Sheffield, 2013;{{Cite web |url=http://bankstreetarts.com/exhibitions/small-town-inertia-jim-motram/ |title=Small Town Inertia – Jim Mortram | Bank Street Arts |access-date=2017-04-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151230115637/http://bankstreetarts.com/exhibitions/small-town-inertia-jim-motram/ |archive-date=2015-12-30 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web|accessdate=2020-08-11|title=Small Town Inertia|url=https://smalltowninertia.tumblr.com/post/39658737013/small-town-inertia-bank-street-arts|website=Small Town Inertia}}{{cite web | url = https://weareoca.com/photography/small-town-inertia/ | date = 8 January 2013 | accessdate = 23 April 2017 | author = Gareth | publisher = Open College of the Arts | title = Small Town Inertia}} Photoville, New York City, 2013;{{cite web | url = http://archive.photoville.com/2013-exhibitions/small-town-inertia/ | accessdate = 23 April 2017 | publisher = Photoville | title = Small Town Inertia}} Red Light Gallery, Norwich, 2013;{{citation needed|date=April 2017}} Arts Centre, Edge Hill University, Liverpool, 2014;{{cite web | url = https://www.edgehill.ac.uk/events/2014/03/03/exhibition-small-town-inertia/ | accessdate = 23 April 2017 | publisher = Edge Hill University | title = Exhibition – Small Town Inertia}} Camden Image Gallery, Camden, London, 2014;{{cite web | url = http://www.camden-image-gallery.co.uk/wp/jim-mortram-28th-august-3rd-september-2014/ | publisher = Camden Image Gallery | title = Jim Mortram 28 August 3 September 2014}}{{Dead link|date=April 2017}} Side Gallery, Newscastle, 2019{{cite web|accessdate=2019-01-21|title=J A Mortram: Small Town Inertia|url=https://www.amber-online.com/event/side-gallery/jim-mortram-small-town-inertia/|website=Amber Film & Photography Collective}}{{cite web|accessdate=2019-01-21|title=Q&A: JA Mortram on his ten-year project Small Town Inertia|url=https://www.bjp-online.com/2019/01/qa-j-a-mortram-on-his-ten-year-project-small-town-inertia/|date=7 January 2019|website=British Journal of Photography}}
Awards
Notes
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://smalltowninertia.co.uk Small Town Inertia] website
- {{Tumblr|smalltowninertia|Small Town Inertia blog}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20151002101553/http://www.documentingbritain.com/jimmortram/ Mortram at Documenting Britain]
- [https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2014/feb/19/jim-mortram-small-town-inertia-in-pictures Small Town Inertia: portraits of a nation in need] – gallery of photographs at The Guardian
- [http://www.huckmagazine.com/art-and-culture/photography-2/small-town-inertia/ What it’s like to live on the fringes of British society: Small Town Inertia] – Mortram describes how he works on Small Town Inertia, for Huck magazine, 2014
- [https://unitednationsofphotography.com/2016/01/20/video-interview-with-jim-mortram/ Mortram interview with United Nations of Photography, 2016] (16 minute video)
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Category:Photographers from Norfolk
Category:British portrait photographers
Category:Social documentary photographers
Category:British documentary photographers