First published in 1996 to enormous acclaim, Richard Billingham's Ray's a Laugh
is one of the most significant photobooks of the turn of the twentieth century,
as well as a cornerstone work of the Young British Artists generation. Formed of
starkly intimate images of Billingham's often chaotic parental home under the
heavy effects of alcoholism and poverty, the book was produced in the 1990s with
editors Michael Collins and Julian Germain. This new edition restores
Billingham’s original vision for his deeply personal work for the first time.
Including numerous unseen images and a distinct approach to sequencing inflected
by Billingham's training as a painter: it constitutes a 'director's cut' and
reintroduces a vital and consistently challenging work for a new era. Tea
publication of this new edition is accompanied by Ray's a Laugh: A Reader,
edited by Liz Jobey, which traces the book's compelling history from
Billingham’s 'discovery' at Sunderland University, through his Turner Prize
nomination, to the present reworked edition
