Andrew Moore | UK Riots & Protests, 1980s-90s
Self-taught photographer Andrew Moore grew up in Tyneside, in the North East of England. In the early 1980s, he moved to London to attend university, and it was there where he first discovered his passion for photography and picked up a camera.
Andrew documented the aftermath of the first night of the Handsworth Riots of 1985 as well as the Broadwater Farm riot that same year, triggered by the death of Cynthia Jarrett who died of heart failure during a police search of her home. From that point onwards, Andrew began to document the unrest triggered by the social and economic changes that came with Thatcherism, including the Poll Tax Riots of 1990.
Photo © Andrew Moore.
Andrew “Local residents desperately try to access a billiard hall to escape a police snatch squad.”
Photo © Andrew Moore.
Photo © Andrew Moore.
“Residents survey the damage following a second night of rioting. Birmingham, 1985.”
Photo © Andrew Moore.
Andrew “Just weeks after the Handsworth riot, Cherry Groce was shot by police during araid on her home. Cherry survived the shooting, but was permanently paralysed. She died in 2011, three years before the Metropolitan Police finally issued an apology.”
Photo © Andrew Moore.
Andrew “A week after the shooting of Cherry Groce in Brixton, Cynthia Jarrett died during a police raid in Tottenham. Everybody knew there would be a response, but nobody was prepared for the severity of what followed. Police saturated the local streets.”
Photo © Andrew Moore.
Andrew “The day after Cynthia Jarrett’s death, tension between local people and the police carried on growing, culminating in a riot on the Broadwater Farm Estate. By midnight, PC Keith Blakelock was dead from knife wounds and two other police officers had sustained serious injuries.”
“At the time there wasn’t a mainstream appetite within the UK for the kind of images I was making. However, I got a much warmer response internationally and began to work with news magazines in Europe and the US. If I’m known for anything, it’s my work in Northern Ireland, although, again, the recognition for that came from outside of the UK.” – Andrew Moore.
Photo © Andrew Moore.
Andrew “The morning after the riot, residents of the estate emerged to scenes of destruction.”
Photo © Andrew Moore.
Photo © Andrew Moore.
Photo © Andrew Moore.
“As the afternoon went on, control of Trafalgar Square ebbed and flowed between the police and protestors.”
Photo © Andrew Moore.
Andrew “An unconscious man lies face down in Trafalgar Square as the police retreat following one of their last charges of the afternoon. The police never managed to clear the square, but, as night descended, people began to melt away.”
Photo © Andrew Moore.
Gallery first published 24th January, 2020. © Andrew Moore / British Culture Archive. All rights reserved.
READ OUR FULL FEATURE WITH ANDREW MOORE HERE
All images © Andrew Moore, all rights reserved. No usage or reproduction of any kind without prior permission of the copyright holder.
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