Shy Burhan
SHY Burhan us one of Yorkshire’s leading photographers. Born in Bradford, Shy now works from her studio in Shipley, and her work is (largely) social documentary based. She studied at Bradford University, and became interested in photography while travelling in Europe.
Acclaimed exhibitions of her work, covering all manner of subjects followed. Her latest, Women in Uniform, is at Cartwright Hall, in Lister Park.
I’m currently reading: Anything that has a real story to it, and that can be anything from a good thriller to Shakespeare or Greek myths and legends. At the moment, I’m about halfway through a book by the Mississippi writer Greg Iles, and it’s called Deep Sleep.
It’s always a “real book” for me, I like the smell of the pages, the way that they turn, books on screen don’t do anything for me, and, hey, we spend far too much time on varying screens as it is. The only time that it’s not a real book – pretty obviously – is when I’m driving, and I have an audio tape on.
One of the great joys of getting the Women in Uniform exhibition together was talking to all the sitters – who came from across the UK, and beyond. One lady works in Switzerland, and made a special trip over to sit for me, which was very special.
I’ve been listening to: The 84 women of colour pictured in the exhibition, who come from all sorts of backgrounds, and whose jobs vary from being farmers, engineers, equestrians, train drivers, electricians, you name it.
They were simply inspirational, and also fascinating. They were open, frank, honest, and unstinting with their time. I asked them to trust me with their stories, and they did. I started researching the project during lockdown, and it blossomed from there.
When I’m work, apart from the conversations, which all flowed so naturally, there’s silence in the background. I can’t have music, or the radio on, it distracts me, but away from work, there’s Nirvana, The Beatles, African tribal music, David Bowie, The Corrs – and Zayn Malik’s new song in Urdu.
On TV, I’ve been watching: Fool me Once,
with Michelle Keegan and Richard Armitage, and based on the Harlan Coban novel.
The bonus is that Joanna Lumley is also in it. Short synopsis? A woman sees some surveillance camera footage, and on it is the husband whom she thought was dead. That’s it – no more spoilers. It’s nail-biting stuff.
And I’ve also discovered The Hunger Games,
after putting them off for quite some time. Mayor of Kingstown is also a favourite, all about the McLusky family, who attempt to bring justice, law and order to a Michigan town that is sadly lacking in all three departments.
The live performance I’d recommend is: Anything by the Royal Shakespeare Company
when it comes to the Alhambra, (my favourite plays by Shakespeare are Othello and Much ado about Nothing) and anything at all which has Mark Rylance in the cast.
I love the theatre, and I go all over to watch it – Sheffield, Leeds, Manchester and, every now and then, I treat myself to a trip to London, and I “raid” the West End – even though the ticket prices are far higher than those in the regions. I’ve been told about the new run of Standing at the World’s Edge, and I missed out on that when it was at the Crucible, so that’s definitely on my “must see” list.
The App I couldn’t be without is: Instagram – what else! – and my banking app. The former for keeping both in touch and informed, and the latter to prove to myself, day after day, that it is far better to pay with cash, and to know how much is in your pocket, than to pay for something so conveniently on line, and then have the shock of finding out how much you’ve spent without really knowing about it!
This is from the woman who has been known to buy yet another photography book from a sales site online at 1.15 in the morning! Cash is a reality, it makes you feel the pinch as you purchase.
What is right at the top of your “To do” Bucket list?: Travel. But I never take my cameras which I use for work with me, I just use my phone, for a personal record, a document of the moment. And I’d love to do a road trip across America, particularly to places like Alabama, Louisiana, and New Orleans.
I’d like to visit Dr Martin Luther King’s church, and I’ve always wanted to see an American gun store, just so that I can marvel at the madness of selling weapons to people without any background checks at all. That’s complete lunacy, right?
Women in Uniform, Cartwright Hall, Lister Park, Bradford, until May 12. Further information on Shy’s work at: info@shybphotogfraphy. co.uk