Chris Hunt

Made in 1975, Chris Hunt’s Out of Darkness records Wolverhampton during a period of change. Hunt photographed around the Open Market and the Mander Centre, as well as Bilston and Whitmore Reans.

The photographs move between indoor shopping precincts, street markets, shops and surrounding neighbourhoods. Shoppers, traders, shop workers and young people appear alongside record stalls, amusement machines, newspaper sellers and political graffiti. Several images directly register the racial politics visible in the city at the time.

The series belongs to the same early period of Hunt’s documentary practice as Beeton Grove, photographed in Manchester from 1974. Hunt later moved into advertising photography but continued to regard documentary work as his principal photographic interest.

Chris Hunt:

“Before I embarked on a career in advertising photography, I continued taking documentary photos, which is my true passion. This series was about the changing face of Wolverhampton in the 1970s. It documents the city, around the Open Market and the relatively new Mander Centre, completed in 1968. There are some vaguely humorous shots, while also shedding light on the simmering racial tensions of the era.”