The 80s: Photographing Britain

Tate Britain presents 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, including Maud Sulter, Mumtaz Karimjee and Mitra Tabrizian. It features images taken across the UK, from John Davies’ post-industrial landscapes to Tish Murtha’s portraits of youth unemployment in Newcastle. Important developments are explored, from technical advancements in colour photography to the impact of cultural theory by scholars like Stuart Hall and Victor Burgin, and influential publications like Ten.8 and Camerawork in which new debates about photography emerged.

The 80s introduces Thatcher’s Britain through documentary photography illustrating some of the tumultuous political events of the decade. History is brought to life with powerful images of the miners’ strikes by John Harris and Brenda Prince; anti-racism demonstrations by Syd Shelton and Paul Trevor; images of Greenham Common by Format Photographers and projects responding to the conflict in Northern Ireland by Willie Doherty and Paul Seawright. Photography recording a changing Britain and its widening disparities is also presented through Anna Fox’s images of corporate excess, Paul Graham’s observations of social security offices, and Martin Parr’s absurdist depictions of Middle England, displayed alongside Markéta Luskačová and Don McCullin’s portraits of London’s disappearing East End and Chris Killip’s transient ‘sea-coalers’ in Northumberland.

A series of thematic displays explore how photography became a compelling tool for representation. For Roy Mehta, Zak Ové and Vanley Burke, who portray their multicultural communities, photography offers a voice to the people around them, whilst John Reardon, Derek Bishton and Brian Homer’s Handsworth Self Portrait Project 1979, gives a community a joyous space to express themselves. Many Black and South Asian photographers use portraiture to overcome marginalisation against a backdrop of discrimination. The exhibition spotlights lens-based artists including Roshini Kempadoo, Sutapa Biswas and Al-An deSouza who experiment with images to think about diasporic identities, and the likes of Joy Gregory and Maxine Walker who employ self-portraiture to celebrate ideas of Black beauty and femininity.

Against the backdrop of Section 28 and the AIDS epidemic, photographers also employ the camera to assert the presence and visibility of the LGBTQ+ community. Tessa Boffin subversively reimagines literary characters as lesbians, whilst Sunil Gupta’s ‘Pretended’ Family Relationships 1988, juxtaposes portraits of queer couples with the legislative wording of Section 28. For some, their work reclaims sex-positivity during a period of fear. The exhibition spotlights photographers Ajamu X, Lyle Ashton Harris and Rotimi Fani-Kayode who each centre Black queer experiences and contest stereotypes through powerful nude studies and intimate portraits. It also reveals how photographers from outside the queer community including Grace Lau were invited to portray them. Known for documenting fetishist sub-cultures, Lau’s series Him and Her at Home 1986 and Series Interiors 1986, tenderly records members of this community defiantly continuing to exist.

The exhibition closes with a series of works that celebrate countercultural movements throughout the 80s, such as Ingrid Pollard and Franklyn Rodgers’s energetic documentation of underground performances and club culture. The show spotlights 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 pioneer a cutting-edge style of fashion photography inspired by this alternative and exciting wave of youth culture, reflective of a new vision of Britain at the dawn of the 1990s.

Notes to Editors

The 80s: Photographing Britain is supported by Tate International Council and Tate Patrons. 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.

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Listings information

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
Free for Members. Join at tate.org.uk/members
Follow @Tate #The80s

List of artists

Keith Arnatt; Zarina Bhimji; Derek Bishton; Sutapa Biswas; Tessa Boffin; Marc Boothe; Victor Burgin; Vanley Burke; Pogus Caesar; Thomas Joshua Cooper; Lucy Darwin; John Davies; Poulomi Desai; Al-An deSouza; Willie Doherty; Jason Evans; Rotimi Fani-Kayode; Anna Fox; Simon Foxton; Armet Francis; Peter Fraser; Melanie Friend; Paul Graham; Ken Grant; Joy Gregory; Sunil Gupta; John Harris; Lyle Ashton Harris; David Hoffman; Brian Homer; Colin Jones; Mumtaz Karimjee; Roshini Kempadoo; Peter Kennard; Chris Killip; Karen Knorr; Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen; Grace Lau; Dave Lewis; Markéta Luskačová; David Mansell; Rosy Martin; Jenny Matthews; Don McCullin; Roy Mehta; Gideon Mendel; Peter Mitchell; Dennis Morris; Maggie Murray; Tish Murtha; Joanne O’Brien; Zak Ové; Martin Parr; Ingrid Pollard; Brenda Prince; Gordon Rainsford; Samena Rana; John Reardon; Paul Reas; Olivier Richon; Suzanne Roden; Franklyn Rodgers; Paul Seawright; Syd Shelton; Jem Southam; Jo Spence; John Sturrock; Maud Sulter; Homer Sykes; Mitra Tabrizian; Wolfgang Tillmans; Paul Trevor; Maxine Walker; Albert Watson; Tom Wood; Ajamu X.

Related publications

The 80s: Photographing Britain
Edited by Yasufumi Nakamori, Helen Little and Jasmine Chohan
Featuring contributions by Bilal Akkouche, Geoffrey Batchen, Derek Bishton, Jasmine Chohan, Taous Dahmani, Helen Little, Yasufumi Nakamori, Mark Sealy, Noni Stacey
Published November 2024, hardback £40

Related events

Lates at Tate Britain
No Signal Presents: Echoes of the 80s. A Journey through Black British Music and Culture, from the 80s to Now
Friday 6 December 2024, 18.00-22.00; free
No Signal takes over Tate Britain for an unforgettable night where music, art, and culture collide. Inspired by The 80s: Photographing Britain exhibition, Echoes of the 80s invites you to dive into the decade that defined Black British creativity and discover its powerful legacy in today’s culture. Expect everything from a10v10 Sound Clash and Diaspora dance rooms to interactive art workshops and visual projections.

Late at Tate Britain x Polyester Zine: 80s Valentines Ball
Friday 14 February 2025, 18.00 – 22.00; free
Join Polyester Zine as they takeover Tate Britain for an 80s Valentines Ball. Expect an evening of workshops, panels, club kid performances, photo opportunities, DJ sets and a special live recording of The Polyester Podcast.

Flashbacks
Saturday 25 January 2025, 12.00 – 18.00; free and ticketed
Part of the Love + Resistance season, a winter of artist talks, public discussions, film nights, live performance and parties inspired by the collective power of art and artists in 1980s Britain. Join us for an afternoon of artist talks, public discussions, and hands-on workshops in response to The 80s: Photographing Britain.

Relaxed Hours
Third Wednesday of the month, 10.00 – 11.00
Join us on these relaxed mornings to enjoy The 80s; photographing Britain in a gallery environment with limited numbers of people. These events are open to anyone who is disabled or neurodivergent and any other visitors with sensory needs who prefer a more relaxed experience, plus their families, friends and carers.