‘Missing’ was an exhibition aimed at highlighting the harrowing issue of missing people. According to Home Office estimates, more than 200,000 people are reported missing in the UK each year. The vast majority return safe and sound within 72 hours - but thousands do not.

The exhibition was part of a national project involving both exhibitions and a publication - a collaboration between ‘Useful Photography’ magazine and the ‘National Missing Persons Helpline’. The entire issue of Useful Photography #3 was dedicated to the subject of ‘missing persons’ from the UK and to coincide with the publication several exhibitions took place in a range of city centre art/cultural venues across the UK.

The photos, supplied to National Missing Persons Helpline by the families of missing people, were a mixture of poignant family snapshots, segments from snapshots, passport photos, school photos and so on. In some cases there were 2 images, an original photograph and another that has been digitally aged to create a picture of how an individual might look now, years later. Each face tells an individual story, but the one thing all have in common is that their families still hope to hear some news of their whereabouts. As Val Nettles, mother of Damien Nettles, missing since 1996, says “Not knowing what has happened is the worst thing. You live in a kind of limbo, not being able to grieve or move on with your life until you have some news, one way or another.”

The photos, supplied by National Missing Persons Helpline, were collated in a magazine format by Useful Photography. The intention of the magazine was to:
• raise the profile of the issue of missing persons in our society.
• publicise the cases of those individuals that are featured in the magazine.
• consider and explore domestic / ID / everyday portraiture from a new perspective. Unremarkable when they were made, these portrait images are now of vital importance and raise all kinds of questions.

Useful Photography is a magazine produced by a group of artists and photographers who wish to give a platform to imagery that is part of our everyday lives but which is rarely studied or appreciated. Through a process of careful selection and the creation of a new context (in a dedicated magazine) these photographs are re-presented and reconsidered.
The exhibitions will show the A4 sized portraits of missing people, organised chronologically by date of disappearance (ranging from 1967 to 2002), with some information about each person. Useful Photography magazine will also devote a double page to each individual.