Ray’s a Laugh is a portrayal of the poverty and deprivation in which he grew up. The photographs, which were taken on the cheapest film he could find, provide brash colours and bad focus which adds to the authenticity and frankness of the series. Ray, his father, and his mother Liz, appear at first glance as grotesque figures, with the alcoholic father drunk on his home brew, and the mother, an obese chain smoker with an apparent fascination for nicknacks and jigsaw puzzles. However, there is such integrity in this work that Ray and Liz ultimately shine through as troubled yet deeply human and touching personalities.

Some of the images in Billinghams project are seen and perceived as disturbing and sometimes sickening. This is due to the poverty and unhygienic conditions, However we can see in the images that Billingham loved his parents as he takes pictures of the good and the bad. Some of my favorite images are when Ray is seen laughing, as his face crumples up as he laughs. For example the cover of the book-

“” my father Raymond is a chronic alcoholic. he doesn’t like going outside, my mother Elizabeth hardly drinks,
but she does smoke a lot.
she likes pets and things that are decorative.
they married in 1970 and I was born soon after.
my younger brother Jason was taken into care when he was 11,
but now he is back with Ray and Liz again.
recently he became a father.
‘dad was some kind of mechanic, but he’s always been an
alcoholic. it has just got worse over the years.
he gets drunk on cheap cider at the off license.
he drinks a lot at nights now and gets up late.
originally, our family lived in a terraced house,
but they blew all the redundancy money and, in desperation,
sold the house. then we moved to the council tower block,
where ray just sits in and drinks.
that’s the thing about my dad, there’s no subject he’s interested
in, except drink.””