#107 CAMERA Book Review: Jim Mortram - Small Town Inertia

A look through the wonderful Small Town Inertia by Jim Mortram.

Small Town Inertia is a remarkable body of work. A full-time carer for his mother, Jim is, like his subjects, unable to escape from the geographical confines of his hometown and his understanding and sympathy for his struggling neighbours is apparent in every photograph.

This is a timely book; a firm rebuttal of damaging government welfare policies and their well-used rhetoric that ‘we are all in this together.’

Jim Mortram's Small Town Inertia developed from a series of conversations with people living in and around Dereham, Norfolk, many of whom had experienced disability, chronic illness, addiction, homelessness or long term unemployment. Beginning in 2010, Mortram visited his subjects repeatedly, often over several years, photographing them in their homes or familiar surroundings while recording lengthy interviews that became an integral part of the project. Rather than separating image from text, he treated both as equal documentary evidence, allowing participants to explain their circumstances in their own words. First published online before appearing as a book in 2017, the project challenged the conventions of traditional social documentary by giving equal authority to testimony and portraiture.

The photographs emerged during a period in which austerity measures, welfare reform and reductions in local public services were reshaping many communities across Britain. Instead of illustrating these policies through statistics or political events, Mortram examined their consequences at an individual level through sustained relationships with a relatively small number of people. His close framing, straightforward use of black and white photography and collaborative method place emphasis on the lived experience of each participant rather than spectacle or visual drama. Small Town Inertia is significant not only for its subject matter but also for its methodology, demonstrating how contemporary documentary photography can be built through trust, repetition and the integration of personal testimony into the photographic narrative.

Photographer Jim Mortram with essays by Lewis Bush and Paul Mason
Hardback with dust jacket
Duotone + 192pp

Jim Mortram
Bluecoat Press

Jim A. Mortram (born 10 September 1971) is a British social documentary photographer and writer, based in Dereham, Norfolk. His ongoing project using photography and writing, Small Town Inertia, records the lives of a number of disadvantaged and marginalised people living near to his home, in order to tell stories he believes are under-reported. This work is published on his website, in a few zines published in 2013, and in the book Small Town Inertia (2017).

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