OASIS
SEE HE
You've watched the documentary, heard the album and seen them bust the charts open. Now witness JILL FURMANOVSKY's photographic history Of Oasis. Words: Jonathan Trew Photographs: Jill Furmanovsky
12 THE LIST 12—25 Sept 1997
WHEN JILL FURMANOVSKY first photo- graphed Oasis at the dog end of “)94. she never imagined that her involvement with the band would last at least another three years and nearly dominate her life for two of them.
Nor could she have imagined that it would lead to her producing ()asis: Was There Then. a book of photographs documenting Oasis‘s lightning rise to stardom. Nor that Was There Then would form the basis for a national touring exhibition of her ()asis images — coming to Glasgow‘s 'l‘ramway in November.
Originally. she had been looking for an tip- and-coming band to photograph for the final image in a diary-form book of her own work. Called The Moment: 25 Years Of Roek
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Photography. the book was to be a chronolog- ical documentation of Furmanovsky‘s 25 years as a music photojournalist. starting with her earliest photos of a young Paul McCartney standing outside his house and finishing. neatly. with Oasis. a band who freely acknowl- edge their own obsession with The Beatles.
Pcrversely. perhaps. The Moment was only in circulation very briefly before its publishers folded. ll’as There Then. a photo-documentary of just her last three years‘ work. is likely to have a greater impact.
Furtnantwsky has an ambivalent relation- ship with ()asis. She does not work for them but for herself: she says she feels ‘like a crew member’ but is aware that she is also. to an
'Noel felt it was important that somebody should document Oasis’s career. They them- selves are fascinated by their own music and by their own career.’ Jill Furmanovsky
extent. an outsider. albeit one who has grown close to the band. ller role in the Oasis story is more closely defined.
‘I think as far as Noel is concerned. he felt it was important that somebody should document their career or that their career is