Evocative photographs show the vibrant life in Newcastle’s famous Byker neighbourhood through the Seventies before it was razed to the ground and rebuilt

AN evocative photo series, currently on show at Tate Modern, has given a candid insight into Newcastle’s famous Byker neighbourhood during the Seventies.

Finnish-born photographer Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen came to the North East as a member of the Amber Collective and captured those living in the industrial town between 1969 and 1981.

An evocative photo series gives an insight into Newcastle's famous Byker neighourhood during the Seventies.

Before Konttinen came to live there, the city council had decided to demolish the area to make way for what was to be the visionary Byker Wall Estate.

Her photographs celebrate what was lost through demolition - a vibrant community living in houses considerably more robust than their replacements.

The residents were told they would be rehoused together in the new estate, but the promise wasn't kept.

Konttinen lived in Byker until her own house was demolished in 1976.

She set up a studio in a disused hairdressing salon and offered residents free portraits.

Her rapport with the local community helped win their trust, and she went on to capture the resilience of youngsters on the streets, elderly people in their homes, working men playing dominoes and much more.

She said of her time there, 'Being a foreigner gave me one advantage. I could be nosey, and be forgiven.

'Many doors were opened for me that would have remained closed to another photographer, and invitations extended to the kind of hospitality and intimacy that would normally be reserved for family only.

In one photograph, a woman, dressed in a tabard, is seen with a bucket, washing an Afghan hound that is standing in a puddle of soap suds.