To coincide with the release of the new Amy Winehouse film Back To Black directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, The Little Black Gallery presents photographs of the singer taken by Charles Moriarty for her debut album Frank.
Asif Kapadia, the director of the 2015 documentary AMY writes :
While making the documentary AMY, I did my research by meeting everyone who knew Amy; friends, managers, family, band members, journalists, photographers, everyone and anyone who crossed paths with her, anyone who might help me piece together Amy’s life.
I never met Amy, I never saw her perform live, so I was relying on what I was told in interviews and what I could see in archive footage and photographs.
When I spoke to Amy’s oldest friends, there was one question that cropped up again and again: Was I going to show the real Amy?
The real Amy.
This phrase stuck in my mind and it soon became the task of the film – to understand Amy and to show the world who she really was.
Over the years I have seen thousands of images of Amy, by brilliant photographers from all over the world, but Charles Moriarty’s photos stood out. They were the most striking images and were largely of Amy just being herself, hanging out in East London, or getting ready to hit the streets of New York… I felt I finally saw the real Amy, the girl before the fame, one who was incredibly beautiful, healthy, funny, witty, and with such gorgeous eyes. It was a stark remove from the shell-shocked icon she later became. She looks so happy, free and charismatic. Here was young woman at the height of her powers, an artist at the crest of her wave.
In my interviews I kept hearing about a girl who people fell in love with the moment they met her, but it wasn’t till I saw these images that I met that Amy for myself. These were some of the most beautiful images I had seen of her, yet it was only when I spoke to Charles that he explained he’d chosen not to release them, that despite the many offers they were too personal, too precious. I have long respected Charles for that; though I do remember thinking it was a shame that the world would never see them.
I am so pleased that Charles is finally releasing his photographs. I am thrilled that her fans, her colleagues, her family and friends get to see and remember Amy at her absolute best.
Asif Kapadia
A selection of the Amy Winehouse photographs by Charles Moriarty are now available from The Little Black Gallery.
The Little Black Gallery
www.thelittleblackgallery.com
