Photo exhibition showcases Mass Observation’s visual legacy

Archival material from the Images of Where You Live: Cities, Towns, Villages (1995) Directive, which will feature in the second part of the Mass Observation: This Is Your Photo exhibition.

Photos and content from The Garden and Gardening (1998) Directive will also be included in the exhibition.

A photo exhibition that focuses solely on the visual legacy of the Mass Observation Archive at the University of Sussex will go on display for the first time next month in London.

‘Mass Observation: This Is Your Photo’ takes place at the Photographers’ Gallery from 2 August to 29 September.

The exhibition, curated in collaboration with Mass Observation, will present a series of snapshots capturing everyday British life.

Divided into two parts, the exhibition will also bring together more than 215 items from the Mass Observation Archive itself.

The first half of the exhibition will be devoted to photographic material from 1937-48 including:

• Documentary photographer Humphrey Spender’s pictures in Bolton as well as his work on the Blackpool illuminations;
• Images and documents created by the Ashington Group, a coal miners’ art appreciation group, in 1937;
• Photographs, ephemera, and drawings collected by Mass Observation investigators during the Second World War;
• and amateur photographs and drawings of gardens submitted to the Archive as part of the Mass Observation Project.

The second part will incorporate photographs taken from questionnaires – known as ‘Directives’ – that focus on domestic life from 1981 onwards. This includes new archival material from Photography & You (2012), a Directive commissioned by Mass Observation in collaboration with the curator specifically for the exhibition.

Members of the public will also have the opportunity to participate in a series of Directives, with responses being displayed on The Wall, a new exhibition space at the Photographers’ Gallery for screen media, from 27 August to 9 October. A series of talks and events featuring panel discussions, as well as a one-day symposium on Mass Observation and documentary photography, will also be held to coincide with the exhibition.

The Mass Observation Archive specialises in materials that record everyday life. The original project began in 1937 and ran until the 1950s.

In 1970, the project materials came to the University of Sussex, where it is now cared for by the University Library’s Special Collections. Following a revival of the project in 1981, it continues to collect diaries and observations written by ordinary people from all walks of life and other materials such as posters and leaflets, on particular subjects of public interest.

Posted on behalf of: Mass Observation Archive
Last updated: Thursday, 25 July 2013