Photography exhibition documenting 80s anarcho-punk opens at Martin Parr Foundation
Posted on: 25 Sep 2020The exhibition is by renowned Manx documentary photographer Chris Killip.
Lost photographs documenting the style, theatricality and raw energy of the Anarcho-Punk movement have just gone on display in Bristol.
Located inside the Martin Parr Foundation in Paintworks, The Station presents images taken by renowned Manx documentary photographer Chris Killip.
The photographers were taken at The Station music venue in Gateshead in 1985, and capture the counter-culture movement which flourished under Thatcher’s government.
The free exhibition was due to open in March, but its opening date was pushed back due to coronavirus. It opened on Tuesday (24 September) and will run until Sunday 20 December.
The Station, 1985 © Chris Killip, 2020
“In 1985 I was photographing nightlife venues in Newcastle when someone told me about The Station in Gateshead," the now US-based photographer said of the venue.
“I was amazed by the energy and feel of the place. It was totally different; run for and by the people who went there.
“I stopped going to other venues to photograph there on Saturday nights. Nobody ever asked me where I was from or even who I was.”
He added: “1985 wasn’t a great time in Gateshead. It was after the miners’ strike and a lot of the punks at The Station were unemployed.
“This place, run as a very inclusive collective, was part of their identity in the way it affirmed their self-worth.
“As a venue it was unique, members of local bands, who weren’t playing that evening, were in the audience dancing.”
The Station, 1985 © Chris Killip, 2020
The majority of photographs on display had laid unseen in Killip’s archives for more than 30 years until rediscovered by his son, filmmaker Matthew Killip, in 2016.
"It’s a great privilege for the Foundation to be able to show these ‘lost' Chris Killip images,” Martin Parr said.
“We can look back at the whole punk movement with both awe and fascination and these raw and immediate images capture the whole punk scene brilliantly.”
The exhibition will also celebrate the publication of a hardbook of the series, The Station published by Steidl, containing 72 images. It is available to buy online and at the Foundation.
The Station, 1985 © Chris Killip, 2020?
Chris Killip was born in Douglas, Isle of Man, in 1946, and started his photography career in 1964.
Later, Killip became a founding member, curator and advisor for Side Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and its Director from 1977-9.
In 1989, he received the Henri Cartier-Bresson Award, and in 1991 he was invited to teach at Harvard University.
His work has been the subject of numerous international solo exhibitions and is held by significant collections including MoMA, New York; and Tate, London.
View The Station by Chris Killip at the Martin Parr Foundation in Paintworks, Bristol, until Sunday 20 December 2020. Admission is free.
Find out more about the Martin Parr Foundation: www.martinparrfoundation.org.
Main image: The Station, 1985 © Chris Killip, 2020
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