Past exhibition · Bolton Museum & Art Gallery · 15 March–15 June 2025
British Culture Archive brought Documenting Your Community to Bolton Museum & Art Gallery in 2025, pairing Don Tonge’s photographs of Bolton in the 1970s with contemporary images selected through an open call.
Created with Don and the museum as part of Bolton’s Town of Culture celebrations, the exhibition connected two generations of photography: an established archive of the town and new work made by the people who know it today.
Street life, friendships and everyday gatherings were at the centre of the exhibition, offering a picture of Bolton across several decades.
Tonge photographed the Bolton he knew: its streets, markets, fairgrounds, football crowds and industrial landscape. Many of the people in his photographs were friends or familiar faces. The work records the town through everyday encounters, with warmth and a sharp eye for detail.
The exhibition placed this archive alongside photographs made decades later, inviting visitors to consider what had changed and what remained familiar.
The Bolton edition of BCA’s photography project welcomed amateur and professional photographers, including people making images on mobile phones. The open call asked for photographs of people, places and events in Bolton, with a short account of the story behind each image.
Selected submissions were exhibited alongside Tonge’s work, giving local photographers a place in the museum and recognising the value of recording everyday life as it happens.
The exhibition included selected submissions by:
“I’d been to see Lois and some friends perform with their band At Home With Lilac at The Ramp in Horwich with my mate Alice. We ended up staying out and moving on to this rave. It was 26th October (notice the ghosts in the background). I take pictures like this to document moments in the hope of looking back when I’m older and reminiscing. I used to love looking back at family photo albums as a kid and still do now. I hope images like this will bring memories flooding back in the future about what we used to get up to when we were younger.
“This one was taken on a film camera I found on a car boot for 3 quid (very lucky it works). I don’t use it often because it’s expensive to buy film and develop it, so when I do, it’s usually a special occasion. I spend most nights out in Manchester City centre, but the taxi fares make it a dear do, so when there’s stuff going on closer to home, it’s brilliant and feels like a special occasion. I love how crisp the contrast is in black and white film photographs; I think they feel more nostalgic and surreal – quite like memories.”
Georgia Davenport.
Exhibition
Don Tonge | Documenting Your Community
Venue
Bolton Museum & Art Gallery, Le Mans Crescent, Bolton
Dates
15 March–15 June 2025
Partners
British Culture Archive, Don Tonge and Bolton Museum & Art Gallery
Support
British Culture Archive received a Bolton Town of Culture small grant for the project.
Bolton Museum’s exhibition record
Bolton Council’s original announcement