Whereabouts Of Photographed Workers Sought 26 Years On
9 November 2012
Image from Professor Huw Davies collection of photographs of workers in Derby.
I'd like to re-establish contact with the original subjects of those photographs in order to find out more about their working lives, what they did subsequently and what they are doing now over 25 years later
”Dean of the University's Faculty of Arts, Design and Technology, Professor Huw Davies.
Workers and workplaces captured on film more than a quarter-century ago by a senior University of Derby academic are being tracked down to see how they've fared since.
Professor Huw Davies - Dean of the University's Faculty of Arts, Design and Technology - is appealing for help to identify the people he photographed in the 1980s, while on a year-long project at Derbyshire College of Higher Education, which later became the University of Derby.
The story of what has happened to those workers and the companies they worked for over the years will form part of a new project - called Transitions Revisited - to be exhibited as part of the Format International Photography Festival 2013, which will run from March 8 to April 7 in Derby next year.
Huw said: "In 1986 I spent 12 months working on an Arts Council-funded residency at the University of Derby's forerunner institution, Derbyshire College of Higher Education.
"For the project, part of 'UK Industry Year', I took photographs at over 30 companies in Derby, documenting the workforce and their surrounding environment. The work was then exhibited at Derby Museum and Art Gallery, and the Silk Mill, and later shown at venues in Birmingham and Leicester.
"In 2007 I returned to the University of Derby to become Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Design and Technology. Now for the Format International Photography Festival 2013, under the theme of 'The Factory', I'd like to re-establish contact with the original subjects of those photographs in order to find out more about their working lives, what they did subsequently and what they are doing now over 25 years later"
The images have been placed on the University's website - at www.derby.ac.uk/huwdaviesformat - for people to look at and will also be run in the Derby Telegraph. Anyone who recognises themselves in the photographs, or has information on the subjects or workplaces shown, is encouraged to contact Huw by email: h.davies1@derby.ac.uk
Roads to Wigan Pier, a collection of photographs of working life taken and first shown by Huw in the mid-1980s, when he was a recent Photography graduate, are also currently on display as part of a group collection at the Impressions Gallery in Bradford as part of its 40th Anniversary.
With the other exhibiting photographers he will be taking part in a gallery discussion on the collection and the development of UK photography since that time in a symposium called Where Did The Years Go?, from 2pm to 4.30pmSaturday 10 November.
To see Professor Davies' images from 26 years ago and help identify their subjects go to University web page: www.derby.ac.uk/huwdaviesformat
For more information about the Bradford Impressions Gallery collection visit: www.impressions-gallery.com/exhibitions
For further press information please contact Sean Kirby, Press and PR Officer, on 01332 591891 or email: s.kirby@derby.ac.uk
