Anne Worthington grew up in Blackpool in the North West of England and then moved to Manchester. Whilst living in the inner-city area of Hulme, she became part of the mix of artists, ex-students and squatters who had made the partly abandoned blocks of flats their own. Anne became part of the Dogs of Heaven collective that produced large-scale art performances. It was during this time that she first picked up a camera and took photographs of the area as it was being demolished, marking the end of an era of squat culture.
Documentary Photography
Anne went on to become a documentary photographer, working around the country in an old Land Rover. Over the next twenty years, she produced a body of work that highlighted the conditions of housing and the effects of social and economic change that had begun during the 1980s.
Photo © Anne Worthington.
East Manchester
The photographs document the inner-city communities of Beswick, Clayton, and Openshaw – areas of East Manchester that had declined. They capture the last moments of these industrial areas before and during the demolition that created room for new housing and businesses. Anne concentrated on the daily lives of the individuals who resided there, and how they worked to maintain their community when various establishments had failed.
Photo © Anne Worthington.
Anne “I took these photographs in Beswick, Clayton and Openshaw, three areas of industrial East Manchester. Areas that had employed thousands of people and very little remained. The streets housed a fraction of the people who used to live there. Like other parts of the UK, it’s a well trodden story.”
Photo © Anne Worthington.
Industrial Decline
“The collapse of industry made this area one of the poorest in the city. East Manchester ended up being earmarked for regeneration. By the time I started taking photographs here, the streets in Beswick and Openshaw had been emptied and made ready for demolition. I met people living in the only house still occupied on an otherwise empty street. Kids would take over the streets, and walls were smashed, and fires were lit in the empty houses. I got to know a family who had started a club for young people to give them something else to do. They would check on the kids almost every night, especially the ones who were still out late into the night because some of them didn’t have a stable place to call home. They opened their homes and gave them somewhere to stay.”
Photo © Anne Worthington.
Community
“I met people down streets and on steps, and got more known as the photographer. It could be a tough place, sometimes a dark place, but rarely unhappy. People had a sense of purpose. They saw something wasn’t right and took it on. They’d been keeping their community going when other institutions had fallen away. And they knew how to have fun.”
Photo © Anne Worthington.
Sense of Belonging
“I got to know a few families and saw what can be overcome with that sense of belonging. Times have changed since I was there in the late 90s and early 2000s. Some of the streets aren’t there now, kids were outside a lot then, and the clothes were different. The tab and the temple have gone. Some people in the photographs still live in the area; they’ve married, grown up, and gotten older. Some of them have died. The regeneration scheme came and went; new houses were built, and the areas changed. They are distinct from the rest of the city, still dislocated maybe, and the people are still kind, enduring, wise, and angry.”
Gallery
Photo © Anne Worthington.
Photo © Anne Worthington.
Photo © Anne Worthington.
Photo © Anne Worthington.
Photo © Anne Worthington.
Photo © Anne Worthington.
All Photos © Anne Worthington, all rights reserved.
Share
Tweet
Email
- Article first published
- February 8, 2021
READ NEXT
SUPPORT BCA
British Culture Archive is an independent archive and cultural resource that was set up through a genuine passion for photography. Since 2017, we have supported British photography by publishing and exhibiting works from photographers and by unearthing and giving a global platform to previously unseen photography.
Our online galleries and exhibitions will always be free for everyone. Public support and funding is vital for us to continue documenting and preserving important photography. If you appreciate the work we do, please consider making a donation through the link provided below.