By Paul Wright | 19 February 2020, 14:26pm
Martyn Goodacre is a renowned rock & roll photographer who captured many iconic bands and artists whilst working as a freelancer for the music press throughout the 1990s.
Though before his days travelling the world photographing some of the biggest names in music, Martyn was part of the large squatting community in London during the 1980s, and it was during this time that he first became interested in photography as he documented his surroundings.
Now living in Berlin, Martyn recently showcased a number of his images taken during this period at his exhibition ‘Who’s Fuckin Planet’. The exhibition which opened in Berlin in February featured images from the new age traveller community, the squatting culture in the capital, protesters and general life in London during the 1980s/90s.
WHO’S F*CKIN PLANET
It’s the year 2020. A year where the UK is faced with increasing austerity measures, a housing crisis that only seems to be accelerating and a big, blue, Tory shadow cast over the Isles. Rewind 30 years and the picture isn’t all that dissimilar.
Back in the 80s and early 90s, when house prices were soaring and public land was being auctioned off to make way for inscrutable developers, a number of small communities were hanging their home sweet home signs in abandoned warehouses, derelict properties, neglected council houses, empty plots of land and buses. Some did it out of necessity, others preferred the communal lifestyle already kick-started by the hippies in the 60’s and 70’s, but most saw this as a form of protest. In 1984, with an unemployment rate of nearly 12% in the UK, it was inevitable that artists, musicians, students, the unemployed and immigrants would come together in a revolt against being homeless whilst gentrification, racism and homophobia loomed.
For the first time, photographer Martyn Goodacre presents ‘Whos Fuckin Planet’ – a personal photographic diary of the lives of Squatters and New Age Travellers in 80s and 90s England. As somebody who occupied various squats in London (including the notorious Ambulance Station on Old Kent Road), Goodacre’s images are not voyeuristic but are instead a visual record from somebody who was at the centre of it all.
Gallery
Leon Greenman, Auschwitz survivor. London, 1980s. Photo © Martyn Goodacre.
Old Kent Road, 1982. Martyn: “This shot sets the time when London was still scuzzy, messy, dangerous and very exciting. You would never know what was round the corner, especially the Old Kent Road in 1982”. Photo © Martyn Goodacre.
Lady with no shoes, London, 1980s. Photo © Martyn Goodacre.
Back To The Planet with police at Fordham Park, New Cross, London, 1993. Photo © Martyn Goodacre.
Anti Nazi League Rally, Brixton, 1993. Photo © Martyn Goodacre.
New Age Traveller, 1992. Photo © Martyn Goodacre.
The End. Kinglake Street, South East London, 1984. Photo © Martyn Goodacre.
Albany Road, South East London, 1982. Photo © Martyn Goodacre.
Old Kent Road London, 1987. Photo © Martyn Goodacre.
New age traveller on horseback, 1992. Photo © Martyn Goodacre.
New age travellers, London, 1992. Photo © Martyn Goodacre.
Martyn’s exhibition opens at Das Gift, Neukölln, Berlin on Friday 21st February with DJ sets from the highly sought after Mark Reeder (MFS B-Movie, mfsberlin.com) and the Berlin groovemaster Mr. Fonk (Disco Bizarre/Smile for a While). FREE ENTRY
Martyn Goodacre (b. almost 1964) is a British photographer living in Berlin and worried about Brexit. Curated by Stephanie Hamer (b. 1991), a British painter living in Berlin and worried about WWIII.
Martyn hopes to bring the exhibition to the UK later in the year.
You can see more of Martyn’s music work on his website here and Instagram page here.
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