An exhibition of pictures by acclaimed photographer Shirley Baker opens at Stroud’s Museum in the Park next Saturday, March 1st.
Shirley Baker (1932-2014) was a social documentary photographer and made her best-known work on the streets around Salford in the 1960s and 70s. Throughout the whole of March her photographs will be on display at the museum and on March 8th a film, directed by Jason Figgis, will be screened at the museum as part of the 2025 Stroud Film Festival.
Shirley has recently had her work recognised and exhibited by The Centre for British Photography and The Tate Gallery has included a range of her work in a new show. ‘Fear and Freedom 1940 – 1965’ features a huge range of great British artists including Dame Barbara Hepworth, Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud and Paul Nash. It’s a singular honour for any photographer to be included in such company.
Fred Chance, for PhotoStroud has spent a little over a year working with Shirley Baker’s daughter, Nan Levy, who cares for her mother’s estate, to select and show a range of Shirley’s original black and white darkroom prints and a selection of her early colour work.
PhotoStroud has been responsible for a number of internationally important exhibitions staged at the Museum and at the Subscription Rooms which have usually triggered collaborations with other people in the community. This time is no exception.
The Stroud district is lucky to have the Hundred Heroines organisation and museum housed in Nailsworth. They celebrate the achievements and history of women photographers and will be running a range of talks and workshops during March.
A group of mums from Rosary School will also be marking the chance to see Shirley’s 60s and 70s pictures by making their own 2025 family and community images which will be shown in the Museum’s second gallery and be available in a limited-edition book.
Shirley Baker’s photographs are a breathtaking glimpse into the social history of the north of England and a chance to see what is often reserved for the galleries of major cities and institutions.
From more details click here:
