Questions and preconceptions around the meaning of ‘working class’ are explored and challenged in a new photography exhibition at Edinburgh gallery Stills. ‘After the End of History: British Working Class Photography 1989 – 2024’ offers an intimate look at the nation.
‘After the End of History: British Working Class Photography 1989 – 2024’
Eddie Otchere, Goldie, Metalheadz at the Blue Note in Hoxton Square in 1995
The touring exhibition launched at London’s Hayward Gallery in 2024, its debut coinciding with the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall (in 1989), an event that signalled the end of communism within Europe. Economist Francis Fukuyama wrote in the early 1990s that this marked the ‘end of history’, deeming Western liberal democracy as the only future for global politics. This exclamation inspired the title of the photography show, which invites viewers to question the theory.
Richard Billingham, Untitled, 1995
Throughout the 1980s, divided views on Margaret Thatcher’s British government sparked vibrant counter-cultural artwork and creativity, often with a nod towards more communist ideologies. But what has become of the working-class creative over the past 36 years?
This exhibition aims to find out, taking a look through the lens of photographers who have captured a raw and honest narrative of their communities.
Kavi Pujara, Bhukan Singh and Gurmeet Kaur, 2021
With over 120 works on display, images span from British writer and director Elaine Constantine spotlighting the Northern soul scene, to Rene Matic drawing upon community and love to capture a portrait of growing up mixed race in a white working-class community in Peterborough. Documentary photographer Kavi Pujara makes an ode to Leicester’s Hindu community, while social documentary photographer and writer JA Mortram displays imagery he has captured of marginalised people while working as a caregiver.
Serena Brown, Clayponds, 2018
Featured artists include: Richard Billingham, Sam Blackwood, Serena Brown, Antony Cairns, Rob Clayton, Joanne Coates, Josh Cole, Artúr Čonka, Elaine Constantine, Natasha Edgington, Sandra George, Richard Grassick, Anna Magnowska, Rene Matic, JA Mortram, Kelly O’Brien, Eddie Otchere, Kavi Pujara, Khadija Saye, Chris Shaw, Trevor Smith, Ewen Spencer, Hannah Starkey, Igoris Taran, Nathaniel Telemaque, Barbara Wasiak and Tom Wood.
'After the End of History: British Working Class Photography 1989 – 2024' is curated by Johny Pitts with Hayward Gallery Touring, and is on display at Edinburgh's Stills gallery from 21 March until 28 June 2025, stills.org
-
The bespoke Jaguar E-Type GTO melds elements from every era of the classic sports carECD Automotive Design’s one-off commission caters to a client who wanted to combine the greatest hits of Jaguar’s E-Type along with modern conveniences and more power
-
Casa Sanlorenzo debuts in Venice as a new hub for contemporary artThe luxury yachting leader unveils a stunning new space in a palazzo restored by Piero Lissoni – where art, innovation, and sustainability come together
-
Once vacant, London's grand department stores are getting a new lease on lifeThanks to imaginative redevelopment, these historic landmarks are being rebonr as residences, offices, gyms and restaurants. Here's what's behind the trend
-
Lubaina Himid and Magda Stawarska’s new show at Kettle’s Yard will uncover the missing narratives in everyday life storiesThe artists and partners in life are collaborating on an immersive takeover of Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, in an exhibition that delves into a lost literary legacy
-
See the fruits of Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely's creative and romantic union at Hauser & Wirth SomersetAn intimate exhibition at Hauser & Wirth Somerset explores three decades of a creative partnership
-
Caroline Walker's new show speaks to women everywhere, including me'Everything related to my life with young children, because it's such an all encompassing experience,' the artist says of her new show at the Hepworth Wakefield
-
Cassi Namoda is rethinking stained-glass windows at Turner Contemporary in MargateThe artist drew from an eclectic range of references when considering the traditional medium for a Turner Contemporary window overlooking the beach – she tells us more
-
Meet the Turner Prize 2025 shortlisted artistsNnena Kalu, Rene Matić, Mohammed Sami and Zadie Xa are in the running for the Turner Prize 2025 – here they are with their work
-
The art of the textile label: how British mill-made cloth sold itself to Indian buyersAn exhibition of Indo-British textile labels at the Museum of Art & Photography (MAP) in Bengaluru is a journey through colonial desire and the design of mass persuasion
-
Surrealism as feminist resistance: artists against fascism in Leeds‘The Traumatic Surreal’ at the Henry Moore Institute, unpacks the generational trauma left by Nazism for postwar women
-
From activism and capitalism to club culture and subculture, a new exhibition offers a snapshot of 1980s BritainThe turbulence of a colourful decade, as seen through the lens of a diverse community of photographers, collectives and publications, is on show at Tate Britain until May 2025
