Hello and welcome to my photography blog. I’m a documentary photographer and writer from Manchester in the UK. You can email me at: david@dunni.co.uk or watch a short film or three here on vimeo and you can read my own publications here at Issuu.
Last post…
My new website is now up and running – so after 12 years, this will be the last post on this blog – fear not! All the old blog posts have been moved over to the new website – If you were subscribed here, go over there and subscribe again to be told whenever I post a new post.
The new website is here at http://www.dunni.co.uk
All change
It may look like I’ve not been doing anything for the past couple of months, but I’ve been busy doing a new website. This blog will be moving over to it and they’ll be some portfolios and even a bookshop to keep it company.
If you’re subscribed to this blog (so you get notices when I post something) you may need to sign up again on the new site. The web address will still be the same one that brought you here: http://www.dunni.co.uk
New Book: I Luv Mcr
11 skewed stories in a psychogeoraphic stylee, about the city of Manchester in my new book – ‘I Luv Mcr’. A6, 72 pages, full colour photos) oh and one black and white one). You can have a peek here…
Inside you’ll find:
1. I LUV MCR: A slogan borrowed from elsewhere
2. BUZZING: The Symbol & significance of the bee
3. RADICALS + RIOTERS: Manchester likes its rioters to be in the past
4. WHAT’S ITS NAME?: Change the name to change the history – The problem with Wythenshawe and Lenningrad
5. A RIGHT ONE: Why developers like to call things number one
6. INCONVENIENCED: Why there is nowhere to spend a penny
7. FACTORY: The heritage industry – Where once there were factories, now there are monuments
8. INTEMPERATE: Street of sin – Why Google called a Manchester street “Hand Job Alley”
9.COLD AS CHARITY: The charity collection buckets that stopped you giving.
10. F-FOR FAKE: Things in the city are not what they seem – buildings hidden behind big photos of themselves
11. HIGH RISE & FALL: An iconic photograph decoded – That one of Ena Sharples standing on a block of flats
Most of the stories in this booklet have been adapted from articles first published in ‘Now Then Manchester’ magazine. ‘Inconvenienced’ was published in a one off psychogeography fanzine and was adapted from an article I wrote for Red Pepper. ‘Intemperate’ is abridged from my artist’s book ‘No Mancs Land’ (with apologies to Mishka Henner) ‘Cold As Charity’ and ‘F-For Fake’ were little photo essays I posted on FaceBook and the finale, ‘High Rise & Fall’ has been knocking around in various forms waiting to get used.
Landmarked Book
Another ‘new’ book – Landmarked began life as an exhibition in 2009 at Manchester’s Central Library. I showed photographs of modern buildings in the city, which their architects had intended to become landmarks – By that I didn’t mean the buildings were necessarily any good. Many were plonked down by developers with no regard to the neighbourhood around them. The financial crash of 2008 ended much of this speculative building, but in recent years Manchester’s skyline has changed once again. Much of what is being built is speculative apartments for buy to let, so I’ve gone beyond the original brief and photographed examples of these and written a sardonic commentary to go with it.
The book is in series with ‘Atomic’ and ‘New York’s Dead’ and in the same A6 48 page full colour format. If you want a pdf version send us an email, if you want a printed one you’ll have to come up and see me some time.
New York Book
The second in my series of A6-sized self published books is called ‘New York’s Dead’ – Inside are 8 sardonic short articles about death in New York City, illustrated with postcards from my collection and photographs taken on trips. It’s 48 A6 sized colour pages on 170gsm uncoated paper, with a 350gsm soft back cover.
I. ‘A Beautiful Corpse’ – A tragic woman lept from the Empire State Building and became an artwork 2. ‘I Love/Hate New York’ – The contradictions of the place 3. ‘Self-Destruct’ – How the death of the city on film didn’t prepare people for the reality 4. ‘Empire’ – A series of photographs of the Empire State Building 5. ‘Raise/Lower the Flag’ – Photo series 6. ‘Post Card’ – Postcards from my collection paired with photographs I took of the scenes 7. ‘The Most Famous Woman in New York’ – (She wasn’t the Statue of Liberty) 8. ‘Fear of Flying’ – The dream of being able to fly from the airport to the centre of Manhattan ended in disaster.
You can see it here on Issuu, or email me and I’ll send you a pdf.
Atomic Book
I collect postcards, which I use in my artworks. I’ve started using these to illustrate some of my written work and put the two together in a series of little A6 books I’ve self published using Mixam.
The first is called ‘Atomic’ which includes four short essays I’ve previously posted on FaceBook and here in this blog:
‘The Sun Fell On Their Heads’ – Inspired by an exhibition on post war Japanese photography, I started reading about the background to the atomic bombing and as usual found history is never straightforward.
‘Pray For Nagasaki’ – An unintended, but ironic result of the Nagasaki bombing was to wipe out Christianity in the city.
‘The Victors Write The History (and label the exhibits)’ – Museums and history are not neutral purveyors of facts
‘Picturing Armageddon’ – Why there are so few photos of the mushroom cloud rising over Hiroshima.
The books may or may not end up for sale, in the meantime I can email you a pdf. or you can have a look on Issuu at: https://issuu.com/daviddunnico/docs/david_dunnico_atomic_book
No Show
I was really pleased to be asked by the Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow, Poland, to show my Ballot Box/Paper Shredder piece in an exhibition of Political Art starting later this month. Unfortunately, but not unsurprisingly the exhibition has been postponed because of the Coronavirus pandemic. Next year is the Museum’s 10th anniversary and 2021’s exhibition calendar is booked up with shows from the Museum’s collection. But, the plan is to hold the Political Art exhibition in 2022.
I’ve got a solo exhibition planned for this November in Manchester, but schedules are going to be subject to change this year…
Manchester is open
My photo of the (in)famous wall in Manchester’s Piccadilly Gardens is in the first ever Greater Manchester Open art competition, which is on at Home Mcr until 29 March 2020.
YoBloodyHo
Happy Xmas – If you got one of my Christmas cards you would have seen some of these photos already – If you didn’t, it’s lost in the post (honest).
Manchester Tinsel 
Cheetham Hill Nativity 
Town 
Poundland Xmas
King Coal on the Dole
I’m not sure what ex-miners in Bolsover were thinking when they voted in a Tory over Dennis Skinner – Maybe they think Fortnum & Mason will be opening a branch sometime soon, or maybe they’ll eating coal after Brexit, or maybe they weren’t thinking.
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