A1: The Great North Road was Paul Graham's first book, published in 1983. Although Britain had a vibrant photography scene, only a handful of monographs existed, including one each by Chris Killip and Martin Parr, and there were no dedicated publishers or distributors. Graham had to publish A1 himself. Its use of colour made a remarkable impact on British photography. Combining social documentary tradition with the New Color approach, it transformed photography in the UK and helped pave the way for a new generation of British colour photographers, including Nick Waplington, Anna Fox, Richard Billingham and Tom Wood.
 
 
 
Graham repeatedly travelled the Great North Road through England to Edinburgh with a large-format camera, recording the people, buildings and landscape of early-1980s Britain. Forty years on, the book is both art and a historical document of Margaret Thatcher's years in government and the UK's declining industrial base.