WORK

Dedicated to the light and spirit of the people of the Black country.

Complete with 10 vinyl record

WORK is a seminal book in the history of photography. Highly acclaimed at the time of it's release, and still well loved today. The book features portraits of people at work in the 1980s - ranging from middle management to construction workers. Shot in black and white, every image is compelling.

"I photographed the workers at Broadgate like knights lying in state in a cathedral with their swords” – Brian Griffin

Inspired by his respect for workers, Griffin constructed these iconic images using some of the *Broadgate Development’s builders to create imaginary Sarcophagi as a testament to the ultimate sacrifice that 14 men suffered while working on the project. A little-known fact...
Tools replace swords, but the pose is the same, and so is the ending…
The pictures also echo his childhood as both his parents were workers themselves in the English Midlands when industry was booming but also where health and safety wasn’t a priority.
Griffins incredibly acute style and emotional input into these pictures make the images both intriguing and incredibly moving.

WORK, 1988 - is a seminal book in the history of photography.  The WORK book went on to be awarded the Best Photography book in the World at the Barcelona Primavera Fotografica 1991.

*Broadgate, on the site of the former Broadgate station, was the largest and most significant speculative development of the 1980s.
“The development’s ‘iconic status’, commercial success and critical acclaim had given it ‘an enduring place in the canon of British commercial architecture … It represents a place-making achievement of a very high order, creating a piece of city within the City that was a benchmark for later-20th-century urbanism on this scale.’” - Historic England

Man in Black', review on WORK book by 'Cake' from 2012:

"The Man in Black from the Black Country, Brian Griffin is that rare thing, a world class art photographer from Britain. (...)

What makes his personal vision unique is a peculiar surrealist approach to mise en scene, rich with a mix of religiosity and irreverent humour. How he persuaded his subjects to comply with his various eccentric requests is a testament to going further in an effort to get the image, not settling early.
Griffin's images do not quite fit in any prevailing history of photography, particularly those espoused by Universities or the big three Arts Council funded museums...(...) They are too real, and abrasive with an odd, sharp intellectualism that offers little comfort. While still getting project invites it could be quite a wait till Brian Griffin is reclaimed as either a major home-grown talent..."