Thanks for the link; I had never been much of a fan of hers, associating her too much with politics...
However, looking at the video (despite the dodgy quality), did make me like her more than I had imagined that I would. A further, superficial if surreal experience, was seeing the Italian subtitles: usually, the experience is the other way around: subtitles are (for us) in English. It became an increasingly odd sensation to be reading them when the actual sound was far more native!
I didn't find the voices strange at all; the only two characters to wind me up a bit were Melvyn Bragg and that male photo-historian; the unseen Bragg because of the association with tv and the other guy, simply because of a natural antipathy towards the curator/expert sect, the professional talking abouters rather than doers... The female historian/gallerista, on the other hand, I swallowed as totally genuine and interested in her work.
Fay herself was delightful in her criticism of the postcard ethic! If that had a flaw, it's that the things are a business, and you have to offer what sells, and if that's what does, accept that there is little merit in starvation.
Regarding her pictures: the square proved yet again to be so very powerful a way of focussing attention. The chances of the eye getting bored and wandering out of shot are much more limited, and the concentration so much more the stronger.
Surprisingly, whilst still grieving my own abandoned 'blads, I did realise that I would only want to use them for transparencies today unless the whole thing came bundled with a full-frame digital back for which I did not have to pay. Romantic (originally) as it may have been, the darkroom truly holds no further appeal for me. I have been totally seduced by the convenience and possibilities of Photoshop.
Thank you for a link that has changed my take on one English photographer!