Haigh Street, Everton, Liverpool, 1975

Under the theme of “Photography as you don’t know it,” the Pictures section in the Winter 2013 issue of Aperture magazine presents the work of ten photographers who have been overlooked and undervalued. The curators, historians, writers, and publishers who introduce these photographers give various reasons as to why they have been insufficiently acknowledged: geography, gender, illness, politics, debates about photographic style or representation, lack of self-promotional savvy, or simply fading from the limelight. Among these photographers is Paul Trevor.

“The work is wonderful; why didn’t he print it before? Because he told me, he was in no rush, and busy with other things”

—Chris Boot, former Executive Director of Aperture Foundation

Paul Trevor began making pictures in the early 1970s, teaming up with photographers Chris Steele-Perkins and Nicholas Battye to form Exit, a group dedicated to documenting the social problems of British cities in photographs and interviews.

Paul Trevor has continually positioned himself as a storyteller rather than an artist, and he has only recently begun printing a body of work made over thirty years. In 1975, he spent six months in Liverpool, capturing photographs such as Haigh Street, Everton, Liverpool, 1975. The image depicts a bird’s-eye view of yards behind Liverpudlian buildings, locating a bright spot of humanity—in the circle of playing children—in an otherwise somber cityscape.

Archival Pigment Print
Edition of 15 and 3 Artist’s Proofs
Paper Size: 15 5/16 x 21 5/16 inches
Image Size: 12 7/8 x 19 3/8 inches
Signed and numbered by the artist

Paul Trevor (b. 1947, London, United Kingdom) started making photographs at twenty-five years old. For Trevor, photography functions as a tool for storytelling, and he is prompted by keen social impulse. He co-founded the Exit Photography Group in 1973. In 1975, he helped establish the Half Moon Photography Workshop in London’s East End. Paul Trevor co-edited its Camerawork magazine from 1976 to 1980. His work is in public and private collections worldwide.