By Ruth Toda-Nation.
In the 1980’s my home of Merseyside was so often portrayed in relation to its economic deprivation. The Toxteth riots occurred in 1981, and Liverpool and the surrounding areas suffered from high unemployment in the late ’70s and early ’80s. I was 16 years old, and this was my first attempt at photography, never having had the opportunity to hold a camera before. I wanted to show the warm-hearted, strong, and proud people that I loved. In my naive way, I shot as close to the people as I could, drawing the focus away from the deprived environment and allowing the people themselves to shine.
Photo © Ruth Toda-Nation.
This was as much about finding my home, my roots, and my sense of place as it was about documenting this proud city and its people. In a way, I was seeing my home through the eyes of an outsider, having spent my formative years as part of a diverse community in Japan. My childhood experiences had made me curious about other people and returning to Merseyside at secondary school age had left me wondering where I was from and where I would call home.
Wallasey School of Art
“I left school at the age of 15 and enrolled at Wallasey School of Art. I had attended Wirral Grammar School for Girls. Back then, getting into Grammar school was considered a great privilege, but there was little preparation involved. You simply took the exam and either passed or failed, which determined your future path. We were expected to pursue careers in law, teaching or medicine, but I didn’t fit that mould – I wanted to draw and paint. The headmistress derided me when I announced that I was enrolling in art school, telling me that my life would come to nothing and I was burying my head in the sand like an ostrich.”
Photo © Ruth Toda-Nation.
Tom Wood
Art school opened my mind and as soon as I shot my first roll of film I was hooked, I had found my visual language. I was influenced by some passionate and individual teachers at Wallasey school of art and in my final year by Tom Wood, who encouraged me to take my portfolio down to some London universities. I saw glimpses of his work at the time, but I never really grasped the enormity of his work and the historical overview of an era that he was creating.
Photo © Ruth Toda-Nation.
“He wasn’t from Merseyside, but he was there documenting ‘us’. I used to see him gliding past, shooting from the top deck of double-decker buses, and walking around the streets taking photos with two or three cameras hanging around his neck – one for colour and the other for black and white. I knew he documented at The Chelsea Reach nightclub, so I never went there again. I didn’t want to be one of his subjects; I wanted to be the one doing the documenting!”
Photo © Ruth Toda-Nation.
Toxteth
I documented people on the streets of Birkenhead and later on the Liverpool side of the Mersey, at The Pier Head and Toxteth, Liverpool 8. I was interested in Toxteth because that was where my roots were. My great grandparents had moved from Scotland when Liverpool was in its heyday, and I felt drawn to the area. We were told that the Toxteth riots were race riots, but that’s not what I saw, and that’s what I was questioning when I walked the streets of Toxteth. To me, it seemed more about the youth expressing frustration against the establishment, against the police. We were afraid of the police, and back then, the police tactics were often brutal and racist. Distrust in the police was a significant causal factor of the uprising.
Photo © Ruth Toda-Nation.
History
Like the beautiful but dilapidated buildings, the older men dressed smartly in ties, macs, flat caps, and trilbies, and the ladies in dresses and hats, out doing their shopping, seemed to be gifting us with a reflection of a bygone era. The juxtaposition between the newer, eclectic mix of cultures and ethnicities in Liverpool, and the older generation that held their proud history in their gaze, was what intrigued me. I wanted to acknowledge this diversity in my work.
I was, of course, mesmerised by and documented some of the grand old buildings, a powerful testament to the history of the place, but I was more fascinated by the people I met there. For me, Liverpool is, and always will be, about the people.
Photo © Ruth Toda-Nation.
After graduating from University of Westminster (Harrow) in 1989, I returned to Japan to live and work as a photographer. I came back to the UK in 2000 and I’m currently living in Milton Keynes where I continue to document the city and the people around me. My current project ‘Our Lockdown Garden’ will be published by The Mindful Editions.
All images © Ruth Toda-Nation, all rights reserved. No usage or reproduction of any kind without prior permission of the copyright holder.
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- Article first published
- May 13, 2022
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