Tate Britain proudly presents “The 80s: Photographing Britain,” a groundbreaking exhibition that examines the decade as a crucial period for the art of photography. Featuring nearly 350 photographs and archival materials from the era, the exhibition delves into how photographers used their cameras to respond to the significant social, political, and economic changes around them. Through their lenses, the exhibition explores how photography became a powerful tool for social representation, cultural celebration, and artistic expression during this important and creatively rich time.
This exhibition is the most extensive to date in examining the evolution of photography in the UK during the 1980s. Showcasing over 70 photographers and collectives, it highlights a generation that engaged with new ideas and practices in photography, ranging from well-known figures to emerging talents, including Maud Sulter, Mumtaz Karimjee, and Mitra Tabrizian. The exhibition features images taken across the UK, from John Davies’ post-industrial landscapes to Tish Murtha’s portraits of youth unemployment in Newcastle. Significant developments are explored, from advancements in color photography to the influence of cultural theory by scholars such as Stuart Hall and Victor Burgin, and influential publications like Ten.8 and Camerawork, which fostered new debates about photography.
The exhibition introduces viewers to Thatcher’s Britain through documentary photography that captures some of the most turbulent political events of the decade. History comes to life with striking images of the miners’ strikes by John Harris and Brenda Prince; anti-racism demonstrations by Syd Shelton and Paul Trevor; photographs of Greenham Common by Format Photographers; and projects addressing the conflict in Northern Ireland by Willie Doherty and Paul Seawright. Photography that documents a changing Britain and its growing inequalities is also presented, including Anna Fox’s images of corporate excess, Paul Graham’s observations of social security offices, and Martin Parr’s satirical views of Middle England. These are displayed alongside Markéta Luskačová and Don McCullin’s portraits of London’s vanishing East End and Chris Killip’s depictions of the transient ‘sea-coalers’ in Northumberland.
A series of thematic displays examine how photography became a compelling medium for representation. For Roy Mehta, Zak Ové, and Vanley Burke, who depict their multicultural communities, photography offers a platform for the people around them, while John Reardon, Derek Bishton, and Brian Homer’s Handsworth Self Portrait Project 1979 provides a joyful space for community self-expression. Many Black and South Asian photographers use portraiture to challenge marginalization against a backdrop of discrimination. The exhibition highlights photographers like Roshini Kempadoo, Sutapa Biswas, and Al-An deSouza who experiment with imagery to explore diasporic identities, and artists like Joy Gregory and Maxine Walker who use self-portraiture to celebrate Black beauty and femininity.
Against the backdrop of Section 28 and the AIDS epidemic, photographers also use their cameras to assert the presence and visibility of the LGBTQ+ community. Tessa Boffin subversively reimagines literary characters as lesbians, while Sunil Gupta’s ‘Pretended’ Family Relationships 1988 juxtaposes portraits of queer couples with the legislative language of Section 28. For some, their work reclaims sex-positivity during a time of fear. The exhibition highlights photographers Ajamu X, Lyle Ashton Harris, and Rotimi Fani-Kayode, who each focus on Black queer experiences and challenge stereotypes through powerful nude studies and intimate portraits. It also showcases how photographers from outside the queer community, including Grace Lau, were invited to depict them. Known for documenting fetishist sub-cultures, Lau’s series Him and Her at Home 1986 and Series Interiors 1986 tenderly capture members of this community defiantly continuing to exist.
The exhibition concludes with a series of works that celebrate countercultural movements throughout the 80s, such as Ingrid Pollard and Franklyn Rodgers’s vibrant documentation of underground performances and club culture. The show highlights the emergence of i-D magazine and its impact on a new generation of photographers like Wolfgang Tillmans and Jason Evans, who, with stylist Simon Foxton, pioneered a cutting-edge style of fashion photography inspired by this alternative and exciting wave of youth culture. This period reflects a new vision of Britain as it approached the dawn of the 1990s.
