British Culture Archive bring iconic Tish Murtha photos back to print

A new hardback photography book by Tish Murtha is available to pre-order now. Published by British Culture Archive in collaboration with the Tish Murtha Archive and designed by Friederike Huber, Vandalism on a Grand Scale brings the late documentary photographer’s Young Unemployment body of work, produced in her hometown of Newcastle in the 1980s, back into print for the first time in 2017, alongside an essay by Murtha and texts by Ella Murtha and Jen Corcoran. 

Born in South Shields and raised in the Newcastle suburb of Elswick, Murtha returned to Tyneside in 1978 after studying photography at the University of South Wales, Newport. Her controversial first exhibitions, 1978’s Juvenile Jazz Bands and 1981’s Youth Unemployment, contributed to a 1981 subject of debate over a Redundancy Fund bill in the House of Commons. From 1982 to 1987 Murtha moved to London, and captured Soho’s commercial sex industry.

In the years following her death in 2013, Murtha’s work has received renewed acclaim and recognition, including the 2023 documentary Tish — which premiered at Sheffield DocFest — and the use of her work in the album and single art for fellow Geordie Sam Fender’s Mercury Prize-winning third album People Watching. 

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Murtha’s daughter Ella said of the book: “Since the original book went out of print, I’ve been asked so many times if I’d ever make another. For a long time, I didn’t feel ready, but returning to the series now, with British Culture Archive, who believe so deeply in the work, has felt very special. I’m so proud of what we’ve created together for my mam.”

You can pre-order the book on British Culture Archive’s website, where the first 1000 pre-orders will also receive a limited edition fine art card of the cover image. The book is set for publication on Tuesday 9th June 2026. 

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