Moving through the Ralph Erskine-designed estate, Konttinen photographed residents in their homes and shared spaces. The work captures the texture of domestic and social life, while also reflecting the transient and often fragile nature of contemporary urban living. The images acknowledge both continuity and change, with new communities forming within a place already rich in social history.

As with her earlier Byker series, the work was developed into a photo film, Today I’m With You, produced with Amber. Together, the two projects form part of a long-standing relationship with the area, grounded in a belief that people should be able to represent themselves and the places they live on their own terms.

Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen is a Finnish-born documentary photographer who has chronicled working-class life in North East England since the late 1960s.

A co-founder of the Amber Film and Photography Collective, her acclaimed work, including Byker and Step by Step, offer significant portrayals of the lives of everyday people in the North East. In 2011 her photography was inscribed onto the UNESCO Memory of the World Register as of national significance to the UK due to her embedded practice and historically vital portrayals of local communities. In 2025 Konttinen was awarded an MBE in the 2025 New Year’s Honours list for her services to photography.