Hailing from North Salford, England, Shirley Baker (1932-2014) was an identical twin. Both girls grew up to become artists, though Baker was private and solitary while her sister was the extrovert. “She was always a great people watcher,” says Nan Levy, her daughter and Director of the Shirley Baker Estate.
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Baker began taking photographs at the age of eight, becoming one of the few women in post-war Britain to receive formal photographic training. After graduating from Manchester College of Technology, she embarked on a career as a freelance photographer and writer, preferring to produce work on her own terms.
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“She was a free spirit,” Levy says. “She set her own projects and never went anywhere without her camera. There are bodies of work on supermarkets and airports. She saw the funny side to things that other people didn’t see.”
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