Important works by Hamiltons-represented Don McCullin and Albert Watson are featured in ‘The 80s: Photographing Britain’ at Tate Britain, running until 5 May 2025.
The 80s: Photographing Britain, a landmark survey which considers the decade as a pivotal moment for the medium of photography. Bringing together nearly 350 images and archive materials from the period, the exhibition explores how photographers used the camera to respond to the seismic social, political, and economic shifts around them. Through their lenses, the show considers how the medium became a tool for social representation, cultural celebration and artistic expression throughout this significant and highly creative period for photography.
This exhibition is the largest to survey photography’s development in the UK in the 1980s to date. Featuring over 70 lens-based artists and collectives, it spotlights a generation who engaged with new ideas of photographic practice, from well-known names to those whose work is increasingly being recognised.
The 80s introduces Thatcher’s Britain through documentary photography illustrating some of the tumultuous political events of the decade, including portraits of London’s disappearing East End by McCullin.
Also included in the exhibition is Albert Watson’s Standing Stone, The Orkneys, Scotland, 1991. Watson made an oversized print (42x56 inches) for the Tate from his personal project of all of the Standing Stones of Stenness, erected about 5,400 years ago and arranged in an oval, presumably for Stone Age ceremonies. They are thought to be possibly the oldest henge on the British Isles, even older than Stone Henge. A large print of the photograph was acquired by the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh.
The exhibition is curated by Yasufumi Nakamori, former Senior Curator of International Art (Photography) Tate Modern, Helen Little, Curator, British Art, Tate Britain and Jasmine Chohan, Assistant Curator, Contemporary British Art, Tate Britain with additional curatorial support from Bilal Akkouche, Assistant Curator, International Art, Tate Modern; Sade Sarumi, Curatorial Assistant, Contemporary British Art, Tate Britain and Bethany Husband, Exhibitions Assistant, Tate Britain.
The 80s: Photographing Britain
21 November 2024 – 5 May 2025
Tate Britain, Millbank, London SW1P 4RG
Open daily 10.00–18.00
Tickets available at tate.org.uk and +44(0)20 7887 8888
Image: Don McCullin, Jean’s Hands, Aldgate, London, 1970s © Don McCullin