If you grew up in Britain at a certain time you would almost be able to taste what is on the table. But the reason I photographed the photograph is because it says such a lot – the way the mother of the groom is accepting a kiss from her son – the expresson on the face of the bride swaddled in the immoveable white costume.
And the photographer, Dennis Morris, was a mid teenager when he shot this and others in his neighbourhood.
The exhibition of his work is on now at The Photographer’s Gallery in Ramillies Street off Oxford Street in London.
If you can, go see his work. It’s great.
From the exhibition
GROWING UP BLACK
Dennis Morris’ story is deeply embedded in that of post-war Britain and the end of empire. Morris emigrated to England from Jamaica in the early 1960s as a small boy, part of the Windrush generation-named after the HMT Empire Windrush, which in 1948 carried hundreds of Caribbean passengers invited to help rebuild post-war Britain from the late 1940s to the early 1970s. Britain was rebuilding itself, both physically and metaphorically, strengthened by the wave of new citizens who brought a new energy and social fabric. But in fact, Windrush also marked the beginning of an ongoing struggle for equality.
Growing Up Black chronicles Morris’ daily life and experiences in his neighbourhood of Hackney, East London. An adolescent developing his craft, Morris took portraits in his home-made studio, street photography, and captured the vibrance of sound system culture, as well as the rise of protest and civil rights activism. He also photographed the Black House in north London, run by the controversial Michael X as a hostel for disaffected Black youth. His images create an eloquent portrait of Black life at a particular moment in time, full of hope for the future but confronted by the challenges of the present: discrimination, poverty, racism and the often-arduous task of assimilation.
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