The 80s : Photographing Britain

Nostalgic exhibition at Tate Britain looking at photography in the 1980s.

The show began with photographs documenting the era which they took to begin with the Grunwick Strike in 1976 which I thought was clever as it established the idea of collective action it was also based around a film processing laboratory. These were my formative years of university and early career so it all seemed horribly familiar.

As well as photographs as documents I also got a sense of them as an art medium, with some interesting collage work and a room dedicated to pictures with words added, and as a process in a study or campaign.

Other themes investigated were the cost of living, landscape, remodelling history, community and self-portraits.

The show included one of my favourite photographs by Martin Parr shown here. There is something so British but weird about it.

Closes 5 May 2025


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