Ben Harman, Director of Stills: Centre for Photography in Edinburgh, speaks to Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen.

Finnish born Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen is a founder member of the Amber Film & Photography Collective. Based since 1969 in Newcastle upon Tyne in North East England the collective established Side Gallery in 1977, dedicating it to socially engaged documentary photography. She works both as a photographer and a filmmaker, her long-term projects developed as exhibitions, books, and films include Byker, Step by Step, Hoppings, Writing in the Sand, Letters to Katja, The Coal Coast, Song For Billy, Byker Revisited and Today I'm With You.

Konttinen’s photography and Amber’s films are inscribed in the UNESCO UK Memory of the World Register.

www.amber-online.com

@amber_sidegallery (Instagram)