Description
About the Image
From Bill Stephenson’s series Streets in the Sky, made in 1988 during the final months of life at Hyde Park Flats in Sheffield.
Once one of Europe’s largest social housing developments, Park Hill and its high-rise Hyde Park blocks were gradually emptied after being declared a failed experiment. Stephenson arrived as the last residents prepared to leave, finding a community proud of their area despite the decline of the buildings around them.
His photographs reflect that sense of belonging. The project grew from time spent on the estate — talking, gaining trust, and keeping the camera low-key until people felt comfortable.
Streets in the Sky was first exhibited at The Untitled Gallery in Sheffield in 1988 and later toured nationally. Stephenson was nominated for the Fox Talbot Award by the National Media Museum for this work.
About the Photographer
Bill Stephenson was born in Birmingham in 1955 and grew up in Leeds. He first came to photography while studying furniture design at Trent Polytechnic, using a camera to record his coursework before realising it was the direction he wanted to follow.
He spent long hours in the polytechnic library studying the work of photographers who shaped his early outlook — Robert Frank, Diane Arbus, Garry Winogrand and others. Determined to develop his craft, he found his way into the darkrooms on campus and began making his own photographs, setting the foundations for the documentary approach that would define his later work
Framing
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