This Is Britain: Photographs from the 1970s and 1980s

PRESS RELEASE

Britain experienced profound changes in the 1970s and 1980s, when it was racked by deindustrialization, urban uprisings, the controversial policies of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Photography became a central form of creative expression during this period, supported and disseminated through new schools, galleries, artists’ collectives, magazines, and government funding.

This Is Britain brings together the work of a generation of photographers who were commenting on the deep unrest of these pivotal decades. Vanley Burke, Pogus Caesar, Anna FoxPaul GrahamSunil GuptaChris KillipSirkka-Liisa KonttinenMartin Parr, and others pictured communities, traditions, and landscapes affected by Britain’s shifting social and economic realities. Together, they photographed a nation redefining what it meant to be British and, ultimately, modern.

 

January 29 - June 11, 2023

National Gallery of Art, West Building, Ground Floor, Galleries G27–⁠⁠G29

For further information please click here: https://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2023/this-is-britain-photos.html

Featured Gallery Artists: Chris Killip, Karen Knorr, Marketa Luskacova, Graham Smith and Tom Wood.