Visual Arts

British society, from the late 1960s until the late 1980s, was in a state of unrest and transition, witnessing the effects of de-industrialisation and the rise of Thatcherism, the miners’ strikes and conflict in Northern Ireland as well as radical shifts in the structure of society itself.

No Such Thing as Society serves as a witness to these times, bringing together 150 photographs by 33 documentary photographers among them Keith Arnatt, Victor Burgin, Peter Fraser, Paul Graham, Brian Griffin, Chris Killip, Martin Parr, Tony Ray-Jones, Chris Steele-Perkins, Graham Smith and Homer Sykes.

Daniel Meadows: Portsmouth: John Payne, aged 12, with two friends and his pigeon, Chequer, 26 April 1974. Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre. Copyright the artist, 2007.

The exhibition takes its name from the famous Margaret Thatcher statement: “...society? There is no such thing. There are individual men and women and there are families.”
It starts at the end of the 1960s, a time when Pop Art had cemented photography’s place in contemporary culture. At this moment the Arts Council of Great Britain began to commission and collect documentary photography, capturing the changing times. The British Council continued this trend in the early ‘80s, collecting new colour photography of the decade’s unique social scene. No Such Thing as Society is the first collaboration between the British Council and Arts Council Collections.

Tony Ray-Jones: Beauty Contest, Southport, 1967. British Council Collection, London. Copyright the artist, 2007.

The show is divided chronologically into six themes, which reflect contrasting aspects of society at the time.

David Butterworth:  Emma’s Wedding. Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre. Copyright the artist, 2007.

Curated by David Alan Mellor, Professor of Art History at the University of Sussex, No Such Thing as Society outlines a history of the development of photography in Britain during this era for the first time.