A selection of Don McCullin’s images are featured in ‘The 1980s: photographing Britain’ exhibition at Tate Britain.

Opening next week at Tate Britain, ‘The 80s: Photographing Britain’ (21 November 2024 – 5 May 2025) will consider the decade as a pivotal moment for the medium of photography. The exhibition will explore how photographers used the camera to respond to the seismic social, political, and economic shifts around them. Included in the 350 photographs on view will be a selection of Don McCullin’s portraits of London’s disappearing East End.

Exploring one of the UK’s most critical decades, the exhibition traces the work of a diverse community of photographers, collectives and publications – creating radical responses to the turbulent Thatcher years. Set against the backdrop of race uprisings, the miner strikes, section 28, the AIDS pandemic and gentrification – the exhibition focuses towards key stories of protest and change.

At the time, photography was used as a tool for social change, political activism, and artistic and photographic experiments. See powerful images that gave voice and visibility to underrepresented groups in society. This includes work depicting the Black arts movement, queer experience, South Asian diaspora and the representation of women in photography.

McCullin’s images in the exhibition feature his work shot around Whitechapel and Liverpool St in 1980.