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Photographer
Ricky Adam
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Photographer
Ricky Adam
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Photographer
Ricky Adam
Back-To-Back
Photographer
Ricky Adam
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Photographer
Ricky Adam
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Photographer
Ricky Adam
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Photographer
Ricky Adam
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Photographer
Ricky Adam
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Photographer
Ricky Adam
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Photographer
Ricky Adam
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Photographer
Ricky Adam
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Photographer
Ricky Adam
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Photographer
Ricky Adam
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Photographer
Ricky Adam
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Photographer
Ricky Adam
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Photographer
Ricky Adam
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Photographer
Ricky Adam
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Photographer
Ricky Adam
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Photographer
Ricky Adam
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Photographer
Ricky Adam
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Photographer
Ricky Adam
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Photographer
Ricky Adam
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Photographer
Ricky Adam
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Photographer
Ricky Adam
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Gomma Photography Grant 2022 Finalists

Gomma Photography Grant 2022

Back-To-Back

Photographer

Ricky Adam

Back-To-Back

10 Jan, 2023

All of these images have been taken in the city of Leeds, U.K. and focus on the red brick terrace housing areas and the people who inhabit them. The terrace houses that encircle the city centre and are known as 'back-to-backs'. These back-to-backs had been cleared in many areas of Leeds and the North through successive ‘slum clearances’ in the ’thirties, and then in the immediate post-war period. Swathes of similar back-to-backs made way for tower blocks and wasteland. Back-to-back houses, welcomed waves of diaspora from Asia and the Caribbean, providing endlessly flexible and adaptable forms of living space. Mostly photographed whilst cycling around the city, these snapshots offer a transient glimpse of life. There's a timeless quality to them; they could have been photographed at any point in Leeds in the last thirty years. The photos are both heroic and everyday, with a concern for the larger social, economic, and political climate, as well as the smaller details of these people’s lives. This work is part of a much bigger body of work that has been ongoing for the last 16 years. I plan to make this into a book at some point. - Ricky Adam

About the photographer

Ricky Adam

Ricky Adam is a photographer from the north of Ireland. Since 1997 he has worked on various photographic projects in Ireland, Europe & America. He was senior photographer / Co. Editor at DIG BMX magazine from 1997-2013. Collections of his work have been published by Cafe Royal Books, Drago, Damiani, Holy Land Pros & Audit. Ricky's work is held in Tate/Parr collection, BnF (Bibioteque national de France), Bower Ashton Library & the Australian Centre of Photography. He continues to work on long term projects.