ExhibitionTalk
Fri 20 September 2024 – Sat 19 October 2024
ONE YEAR! Photographs from the Miners' strike 1984-85
Miners Strike 1984 mass picket confronting police lines, Bilston Glen. Norman Strike at the front of a mass picket, Scotland. © John Sturrock/Reportdigital.co.uk
ONE YEAR! Photographs from the Miners' strike 1984-85
Exhibition runs 20 September-19 October 2024
Opening Times:
Wednesday - Saturday 11am - 6pm. FREE ADMISSION
Exhibition launch Thursday 19 September - RSVP here
To coincide with the 40th anniversary of the miners’ strike, we are delighted to show this exhibition from the Martin Parr Foundation.
The miners’ strike was one of Britain’s longest and most bitter disputes, the repercussions of which continue to be felt throughout the country today. This exhibition looks at the vital role photographs played during the year-long struggle against pit closures, including many materials drawn from the Martin Parr collection.
The industrial action, which began in Yorkshire, was led by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and its President, Arthur Scargill, against the National Coal Board (NCB). The Conservative government under Margaret Thatcher opposed the strikes and aimed to reduce the power of the trade unions.
Ephemera relating to the strike – including posters, vinyl records, plates, badges and publications – are placed in dialogue with work by photographers who documented the events in 1984-85. Collectively, the materials demonstrate the power and the contradictions inherent in using photography as a tool of resistance.
The exhibition includes photographs by Brenda Prince, John Sturrock, John Harris, Jenny Matthews, Roger Tiley, Imogen Young and Chris Killip, and images by Philip Winnard who was himself a striking miner. These works will be displayed alongside archival press prints also from the Martin Parr Foundation collection and vernacular images taken by Swansea police on a trip to a picket line in Derbyshire, on loan from the National Museum Wales.
The exhibition also launches a new book, ONE YEAR! Photographs from the Miners' strike 1984-85, published by Bluecoat Press.