Latest news with #VictorWedderburn
BBC News
14-06-2025
- General
- BBC News
Photographer 'over the moon' with second Bradford exhibition
Bradford photographer Victor Wedderburn had to wait 40 years for his first public exhibition - but now he has his second in as many self-taught snapper's Frontline 1984/1985 show captures life in Bradford's African Caribbean communities in the images first appeared in the Loading Bay art space during an exhibition ending in May, with a selection now on show at the National Science and Media his latest exhibition, the 70-year-old photographer said: "It's just unbelievable, I'm over the moon with it." The Lumb Lane area of the city was known to many locals as "the Frontline" at the time the photos were taken."We didn't have mobile phones so if you wanted to meet anyone you'd go to the Frontline," said Mr Wedderburn."That's why I called my pictures Frontline 1984/1985 because those were the main years that I was working in Manningham as a photographer.""As the years go by we seem to be getting less and less and people get moved around," he said."That place doesn't exist anymore and I just happened to have made a record of it." Mr Wedderburn arrived in the UK from Jamaica in 1971 at the age of 16 to join his Windrush generation was later made redundant from his driving job at Crofts Engineers but used his pay off to buy a second-hand camera and kit to develop colour with his Praktica camera, he set about documenting everyday life in Bradford as he saw it around the BD8 area."I didn't make any money, even though that wasn't the plan then," he said. "But now it ends up that I've documented the history of the Windrush generation really."He had to find other work to pay the bills and only recently retired after decades working as a psychiatric nurse. Mr Wedderburn, who still lives in Bradford, carefully kept more than 1,500 negatives of his images, with his first exhibition arising from an approach by the Bradford UK City of Culture team. Rebecca Land, the National Science and Media Museum's head of communications, said: "We hope that Victor's photographs can be preserved."I think digitising those images would be incredible so they could all be enjoyed."Frontline 1984/1985 is running in the museum's foyer space until the end of October. Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
Yahoo
14-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Photos of 1980s African-Caribbean life in Bradford to be displayed
A selection of photos by a Bradford-based photographer are to go on display at a museum. Victor Wedderburn's photos, which capture 1980s African-Caribbean life in the city, will be shown at the National Science and Media Museum as part of Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture. The photos feature local landmarks such as Lumb Lane's Roots Record Shop and the Perseverance Hotel, as well as sound system parties. Originally from Jamaica, Wedderburn arrived in the UK in 1971 at the age of 16, joining his Windrush Generation parents in Bradford. After losing his job at Crofts Engineers to redundancy in the early 1980s, he used his redundancy pay to buy a second-hand camera and film developing kit. He then began documenting life in the city. A spokesperson said: "Wedderburn's images, in a colour format rarely seen at the time, are an intimate portrait of the world and people that surrounded him." The new display follows Wedderburn's debut exhibition, Frontline 1984/1985, at Loading Bay in Bradford, and consists of a selection of photos from that exhibition. The photos, in the National Science and Media Museum foyer, will be available to view until October 29, 2025. For more information and to book free admission, visit
BBC News
04-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
'Place and people now gone' caught on camera by city snapper
A self-taught photographer has said he hopes images he took capturing life in Bradford's African Caribbean communities in the early 1980s can eventually find pride of place in a museum in his home photographs by Victor Wedderburn, who is now 70, reveal a snapshot of life in Manningham towards the end of last century and are currently on show in his first ever public exhibition as part of this year's City of Culture Wedderburn said he hoped the photos could eventually go on display in the National Science and Media Museum in said: "I was right when I thought it was important to take these pictures. It's of a place and people that have now gone." Mr Wedderburn arrived in the UK from Jamaica in 1971 at the age of 16 to join his Windrush Generation he was later made redundant from his driving job at Crofts Engineers, he used his pay-off to buy a second-hand camera and kit to develop an atmosphere of racism and community tensions, he set about documenting everyday life in Bradford as he saw it. His colour photographs of landmarks on Lumb Lane such as Roots Record Shop, the Young Lions Cafe and the Perseverance Hotel remained unseen for after publishing them online and getting a positive response they also came to the attention of the Bradford City of Culture 2025 team. The images show everything from sound system parties to anti-apartheid marches and shine a light on a sometimes neglected part of Bradford's multi-cultural history. Mr Wedderburn, who still lives in Bradford, explained: "This community doesn't exist anymore, people have moved on."When you go to the area now, it's completely different. It's completely changed. "We miss it of course, but that's life." Mr Wedderburn's pictures are currently on show in his first ever public exhibition, Frontline 1984/1985, which runs until Sunday 11 May in the Gallery at the Loading Bay in said that once that exhibition was over, he hoped they could find a permanent home."For the photographs, I'm hoping - or the plans are - that they go to the photographic museum in Bradford," he said."And, who knows? But I hope they get exhibited elsewhere. That's the plan." Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
