Frames of Resistance: Photography, Memory, and Black Experience in 1980s Britain

'The 80s: Photographing Britain' exhibition at Tate Britain reaffirms photography's role in Black art narratives

Minstrel (1987) © Lyle Ashton Harris. Snapshot, Lou Mensah at Tate Britain. The 80s: Photographing Britain.

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The 80s: Photographing Britain exhibition comprises more than just visual documents of the time; these photographs are radical archives of possibility. In an era long before Instagram activism and performative solidarity, these works capture something far more profound - the raw, unmediated heartbeat of community resistance. Each photograph is a manifesto, each frame a declaration that says: we are here, we persist, we transform.

This exhibition is doing the work – we're talking about 350 images and archive materials including significant works by Black artists. I mentioned in previous posts that Frieze and 1-54 have been giving photography the side-eye. Well, The 80s: Photographing Britain is centering these stories. It's literally mapping out the moments, the movements that actually shaped marginalised communities in the UK.

Synapse III (1987-1992) © Supta Biswas. Snapshot Lou Mensah, Tate Britain.

Into the Light series © Pogus Caesar @ Tate Britain snapshot Lou Mensah.