Richard Billingham: Ray’s A Laugh

Photographer and painter Richard Billingham (born 1970) grew up in a cramped, high-rise tenement apartment with his mother and father in Birmingham, England. His father, Ray, was an unemployed, chronic alcoholic, often sleeping the whole day through, while Liz, Billingham’s overweight and heavily tattooed mother, filled her home with porcelain dolls and jigsaw puzzles, housing ten cats and three dogs. These are Billingham’s subjects. His images are raw, intimate and often uncomfortably humorous. First published in 2000, ‘Ray’s a Laugh’ is now considered one of the most important British photo books of the recent past. This publication reproduces this renowned book, including a contemporary essay by Charlotte Cotton.