EXHIBITION OPENING TIMES

Walkway & Foyer-bar: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday 8:30am - 4:00pm | Wednesday - CLOSED | Saturday 9:00am - 3:00pm | Sunday 10:00am - 3:00pm
Please note that we occasionally have to close the foyer bar part of the exhibition space: please check this page before visiting. 

FREE ADMISSION

 

*The Foyer-bar will be closed on Friday 14 August from 1:00pm for a private event.

 

In the middle of the 20th century, 'playing out’ was a daily norm and for many children, especially those in cramped terraced houses, the street was a place free from adult intervention where they could create their own games, rules and rituals. These were the scenarios that fascinated Shirley Baker (1932 – 2014), one of Britain’s most compelling yet underexposed social documentary photographers, which she captured in tender, playful and candid photographs of post-war street life in Manchester and Salford. Taken during the late afternoon, working fathers are absent, mothers are washing, cleaning and cooking; and children, home from school, are at play. There is a scarcity of toys, but an abundance of invention and adventure, along with a palpable sense of community, solidarity and resilience.

 

This exhibition consists of 39 vintage gelatin silver and chromogenic prints taken and hand-printed by Shirley Baker between 1960 and 1973, focussing on depictions of children at play amidst the urban clearance programmes of inner city Manchester and Salford.

 

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Dr Anna Douglas - A light goes on: between history and fact in the work of Shirley Baker

Saturday 1 August, 11:00am

Find out more and book a place (free admission)  

 

Our summer exhibition is kindly loaned to us by Shirley Baker's daughter, Nan Levy.