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. His shots of ship building look like they’re from another century but they also show the sheer skill of the people involved, he says, in an industry that’s now completely vanished from the region. 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. Published in 1988, In Flagrante describes the communities in Northern England that were devastated by the deindustrialisation common to policies carried out by Thatcher and her predecessors starting in the mid-1970s.

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.

The show also features material from two related projects— Seacoal and Skinningrove—that Killip developed in the 1980s, included selectively in In Flagrante, and revisited decades later. It seems a dry take on images that were once interpreted as deeply political, but Killip doesn’t see it that way. She has also curated exhibitions for institutions such as The Photographers Gallery and Lianzhou Foto Festival. Some corner curling with crease to lower front cover corner, sticker residue to base of rear cover, tight and unmarked.

This revised Steidl edition (2016) includes two additions to the original series, which Killip made in Northern England between 1973 and 1985. Chris Killip`s In Flagrante is often cited as the most important photobook to come from England in the 1980s. 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. Pick up a multimedia player free of charge in the Museum Entrance Hall or use your own smartphone on our free GettyLink Wi-Fi. In Flagrante, Killip's "subjective book about my time in England" during its "de-industrialisation" (Killip's preface) is one of the greatest photobooks of the late 20th century, "a dark, pessimistic journey, perhaps even a secret odyssey, where rigorous documentary is suffused with a contemplative inwardness, a rare quality in modern photography" (Gerry Badger).

Helen and Her Hula-hoop, Seacoal Camp, Lynemouth, Northumberland, 1984, Chris Killip, gelatin silver print. Registered office: WSM Services Limited, Connect House, 133-137 Alexandra Road, Wimbledon, LONDON SW19 7JY.

Supermarket Display of Baked Beans, North Shields, Tyneside, 1981, Chris Killip, gelatin silver print.In Flagrante could have been made differently, the show suggests, and Killip’s achievement was much more than the book alone. 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 the short film, Skinningrove, 2013, Chris Killip tells personal stories about the people in his photographs. In Flagrante" is considered a significant documentary work that highlights the human stories behind the economic decline of the time.