Early photographic work included in the group exhibition 'The Human Document: The Photography of Persuasion from 1930s America to Present Day', Mead Gallery, University of Warwick, Coventry

Billingham's early photographic work from the series "Rays a Laugh' was included in the group exhibition - 'The Human Document. The Photography of Persuasion from 1930s America to Present Day', Mead Gallery, Coventry, (7 Oct 2016 – 10 Dec 2016).

In 1962, the Museum of Modern Art in New York presented The Bitter Years, curated by Edward Steichen. This exhibition included over 200 images taken between 1935-1944 by a small group of photographers working for the Historical Section of the Farm Security Administration Programme (FSA). Many of the best known Depression-era photographers were fostered by the FSA including Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange and Arthur Rothstein. Under the direction of Roy Stryker, these photographers were sent out to document the plight of rural workers, to introduce ‘America to Americans.’

This exhibition took 'The Bitter Years' as its starting point in exploring artists’ enduring fascination with the FSA Historical Section– both as photographs designed to awaken human emotions and as a collective body of images. It presented a selection of photographs from The Bitter Years, corresponding to Steichen’s original thematic groupings, alongside photography by contemporary artists. Besides Richard Billingham, other participating contemporary artists included Paul Graham, Sunil Gupta, Chris Killip, Susan Lipper and Eileen Perrier as well as the film installation 'On Photography, People and Modern Times' by Akram Zaatari. A fully illustrated catalogue to accompanied the exhibition.