Berkoff’s East End, Central House, E1 - review

A maverick goes back to his East End roots to shoot the characters of Whitechapel
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20 November 2012

The celebrated playwright, actor and director Steven Berkoff keeps photography aside from his theatrical reputation but now it’s in the open.

The passion began when he was 11 and given a camera, enlarger and printing lessons, then a second-hand Rolleiflex launched him. The serious documenting of life in the Jewish East End, where he grew up, began in the Sixties and Seventies, a project dedicated to preserving memories of people and place. “In many ways,” he wrote in the recent book, “The camera preceded the pen.”

These black-and-white photographs focus on the shops lining Whitechapel’s web of streets — kosher butchers with chickens dangling in windows, beigel bakers, market traders and customers. Berkoff treated the streets like stage sets, unfurling subjects like Dickens characters: a cocky, scruffy boy standing in a road off Brick Lane, a woman selling carrier bags, a couple standing proudly in their shop doorway — all reflecting Berkoff’s sharp eye for design.

The most perfectly lit is an almost medieval portrait of an old lady in her gloomy shop. It relied on Berkoff’s surprising empathy in persuading her, and similarly, the portrait of the butcher’s widow, Mrs Waller, was only agreed if she held up her wedding photograph to distract from her face. Such sensitivity rely on his familiarity.

The East End has long since fascinated photographers but not everyone studied the Jewish neighbourhood. Unlike Bill Brandt or Snowdon, who trawled the working class East End, Berkoff is definitively of his subjects. The burgeoning new East London Archives at the gallery, perfectly complements his significant collection.

Until November 29, thecass.com 01424 434 828. East End Photography by Steven Berkoff, dewilewispublishing.com

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