Iconic Newcastle photo exhibition to return to its Elswick roots скачать в хорошем качестве

Iconic Newcastle photo exhibition to return to its Elswick roots

Acclaimed Newcastle photographer Tish Murtha's iconic Juvenile Jazz Bands exhibition is coming home to Elswick where she grew up.  It is being used to launch the 40th anniversary celebrations next year of Newcastle’s West End Women and Girls Centre.  The exhibition will preview on January 15 with a series of large-scale projections onto the centre itself, supported by BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art.  Tish was born in South Shields in 1956, but later moved to Elswick. She famously photographed the lives of her friends, family and local community and her work has been exhibited in galleries across the UK and internationally.  Juvenile Jazz Bands was her first exhibition and was made while she was employed through a Youth Opportunity Programme at Side Gallery in Newcastle where it was originally shown.  Tish died in March 2013 after suffering a sudden brain aneurysm the day before her 57th birthday.  Her daughter Ella Murtha said: “I was thrilled when the West End Women and Girls Centre asked if they could include an exhibition of me mam’s Juvenile Jazz Bands photographs as part of their 40th anniversary celebrations.  "It feels really special to be bringing the photos home to Elswick, and lighting up the building with the faces of some of the wonderful women and girls of the West End.  "Hopefully - Covid-19 permitting - we can get loads of the kids back together, hear their memories and have a really lovely community-based event. Whether you liked them or not, jazz bands were a massive part of the social history of the area and it will be fascinating to discover the stories behind them.”  The children’s Jazz Bands were a distinct North East phenomenon in the 1970s and 1980s, following the adult jazz bands that emerged in working class communities after the First World War.  Tish travelled with the official Jazz Bands to local parades, but disliked their militaristic approach and focused her camera on the 'toy bands' in the back lanes of Elswick – kids who were not accepted into or could not afford to be in a band.  Instead, they clubbed together to create their own equipment, using an old tablecloth for a banner held up with old broom handles and old pans as drums with the lids for cymbals.  Centre Coordinator Huffty McHugh said: "We’ve wanted to celebrate Tish’s work for many years and this seemed like the perfect fit as many of our members were in Juvenile Jazz Bands back in the day and we are very proud of Sophie Murtha, Tish’s niece who is an award-winning member of our Domestic Abuse Peer Education team."  West End Women and Girls Centre has been a vital part of the local community in the West End of Newcastle since 1981.  Last year, 10,411 women and girls accessed the centre; over 566 sessions and 40 community events were attended by more than 2,500 women, girls and their families. Five generations of families hold membership.  The 40th anniversary celebrations will also include the launch of the North East’s first Women’s Lib