Luis Bustamante arrived in the UK as a refugee from Chile in 1974, settling in Hull after leaving Buenos Aires just two days earlier.  While studying at Hull University, Bustamante began documenting towns and cities across Britain, creating an enduring record of social and urban life.

In 1979 he turned his lens on Manchester, a city shaped by its industrial past and entering a period of economic change. His photographs capture streets, buildings and communities in stark monochrome, reflecting both the challenges of decline and the resilience of a working-class city in transition.

A selection of this work has since been exhibited as part of the British Culture Archive collections, including at the Science and Industry Museum, Manchester (2021), and Bury Art Museum (2023) in the touring exhibition Life in the North | 1970s–1980s.