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The AmberSide Trust, one of the UK’s most significant documentary and film collections has received £242,508 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund for Relocating Amber, a major new project that will protect the world-renowned AmberSide Collection while expanding public access to it across the North East.  The project will bring one of the UK’s most significant documentary photography and film collections on loan to Newcastle University’s Special Collections, enabling people to encounter the Collection through exhibitions, screenings, education and community programmes across the region. 

Built over more than five decades, the AmberSide Collection contains more than 20,000 photographs, around 100 films and extensive paper and digital archives documenting working class communities, mining, shipyards, housing, protest, youth culture, family, migration and everyday life across the North East and beyond. Key elements of the Collection were inscribed onto UNESCO’s UK Memory of the World Register in 2011. 

Under the custodianship of Newcastle University Special Collections, the preservation of the Collection will be supported within specialist archival facilities, whilst opening the works up to new opportunities for public access, research, teaching and engagement through Newcastle University Library.

At the same time, Side, the delivery team for the AmberSide Trust’s exhibitions, will expand the screening and public programmes through collaborations throughout the North East.  Rather than being centred in a single venue, Side and its partners will bring photographs, films and local histories directly into the communities they were made with and about, through exhibitions, screenings, talks and events across the region.

The project will also create new pathways for photographers, artists, filmmakers and heritage practitioners. From Side’s new curatorial office at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, practitioners will be able to access the Trust’s reference library, and receive portfolio reviews and project advice, supporting the development of new documentary work rooted in place, research and social engagement. 

Amber Education will continue to use the Collection in classrooms, connecting children and young people with local history, place and lived experience through inter-generational community projects centred around photography and film. 

Laura Laffler, Managing Director of the AmberSide Trust said:“The AmberSide Collection was built through long-term relationships with communities across the North East. This project protects that work for the future while opening up new ways for people to encounter and use the stories it contains. Through collaboration with Newcastle University, Side’s regional programme, Amber Education and our new curatorial office, we can care for the Collection properly while sharing it more widely and supporting the next generation of documentary practitioners.”

Jill Taylor-Roe, Director of Academic Services and the Newcastle University Library said:  “Newcastle University is proud to partner with Amber to safeguard their incredible archive, which has documented and celebrated working-class culture for more than fifty years. Our nationally accredited archive service will curate the collection to ensure that future generations may benefit from access to these resources. We look forward to enabling wider community engagement with the archive and are excited by the opportunities that will be afforded to students and researchers through having enhanced access to this  iconic collection.”

Helen Featherstone, Director, England, North at The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said:  “Preserving heritage is very important to us at The National Lottery Heritage Fund and we’re proud to be able to support the safeguarding of this incredibly significant collection thanks to National Lottery players. Working with Newcastle University, it is fantastic news that AmberSide Trust will unlock many new opportunities for the public to engage with this important archive that showcases and celebrates the wonderful heritage of the North East.”

Using money raised by National Lottery players, The National Lottery Heritage Fund supports projects that connect people and communities with the UK’s heritage. Relocating Amber is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, Relocating Amber will support collections care, conservation rehousing, archive integration, digital access, education activity, practitioner development and a new programme of exhibitions, screenings and public events across the North East. 

This project marks a major new public chapter for the AmberSide Collection, protecting a nationally significant archive while ensuring stories of working-class life, community memory and social change remain public, local and active.  

See: https://sidegallery.co.uk/blog/relocating-amber?mc_cid=ebcb71304e&mc_eid=b48467438a

Newcastle University
Special Collections & Archives
email: libraryhelp@ncl.ac.uk
t: +44 (0) 191 208 7712
Special Collections & Archives, Philip Robinson Library, Jesmond Road West, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 4HQ

It is an absolute pleasure to share the news that my article ✨‘The Garret Photographic Studio’ How the Home Darkroom Facilitated Everyday Queer Image Making ✨is now live on the Eidolon Journal website!

This essay is published in conjunction with Eidolon Club Vol. 12: The People's Pictures which was an afternoon of talks on vernacular photography held on 27 March 2026 at Fyvie Hall, University of Westminster, organised by Eidolon Centre and Photoworks_UK in collaboration with the University of Westminster. Alongside the event, a call for papers was extended to university students, with selected work to be considered for publication in Eidolon Journal. My essay on the Reg and George Collection held at Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales, was the selected contribution! ❤️

In the article, I discuss one of the case studies I have been focusing on as part of my PhD research. The Reg and George Collection is so rich with photographic material of which I have barely scratched the surface! Reg and George were a gay couple who ran B&B buisnesses in Wales from the early 1970s but prior to this they lived in Bournemouth where George worked as a professional photographer. His first itteration of the business - the Garret Photographic Studio - was a domestic/studio/darkroom space. In the article I discuss how the queered photographic domestic space facilitated image making during the criminalisation of homosexuality and the obscene publications act.

It has been such a pleasure to work with the Eidolon team and getting to write about queer photographic history 🥰 

‘The Garret Photographic Studio’. How the Home Darkroom Facilitated Everyday Queer Image Making
Molly Caenwyn
See: https://everydayphotography.org/journal/the-garret-photographic-studio

The Birmingham-based documentary photographer, graphic designer and jazz researcher, Brian J Homer died on 10 July aged 79 years, after a short and sudden illness. Brian's work was always political (with a small p). With a large archive of work from the 1970s to the present he told Paul Hill for a piece in Amateur Photographer magazine "there was a social purpose to the documentation, but people are now fascinated by how places and people looked half a century ago". His work was prescient and remains relevant today.  

Brian co-founded and worked on Grapevine and Broadside Magazines in Birmingham between 1971 to 1979. Grapevine reached a peak of 3000 sales and ran from 1971 to 1975. In 1975 he edited Brum Book a guide book to Birmingham before co-founding another magazine similar to Grapevine -  Broadside - which ran from 1976 to 1979. Brian was part of the original Handsworth Self Portrait project with Derek Bishton and John Reardon in 1979, with whom he also co-founded Ten8 magazine which launched in 1978. Ten.8 provided a forum for West Midlands-based photographers to come together and share images and ideas. It was described by the Jamaican scholar Professor Stuart Hall as “the journal which has most systematically explored the relationship between how we represent the world photographically, the knowledge which these images produce and their implications for power and politics”. It was the subject of a special display at the Photographers' Gallery between 2024-2025.

Alongside his own documentary photography which documented Birmingham and elsewhere internationally from the 1970s these included the Grunwick dispute march in Birmingham in 1978 and Rock Against Racism march in London in 1978. He was commissioned by Peter James of the Library of Birmingham in 2013 to produce 1000 portraits which were shown on a large screen in the library. 

His archive is housed in the Art, Design and Media archive at Birmingham City University. It comprises of a full set of Grapevine and Broadside Magazines together with a copy of Brum Book. Brian co-founded, with Trevor Fisher, Grapevine a what's on and news magazine based in Birmingham. Run mainly by volunteers who did everything from writing, design and layout to distribution.  The archive for Handsworth Self Portrait was accepted in to the Bodleian Library, Oxford, in 2024. It includes notebooks, organisation and financial information, publicity posters, press cuttings, the original negatives and a very full set of more than 200 matched scans and prints.

From 1978 to 2015 Brain ran a design agency and was an active photographer documenting the jazz scene. He was a member of the Jazz Research Cluster at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and was collaborating with Dr Pedro Cravinho on Everyday Jazz Life a project exploring jazz musicians lives. His work featured in numerous publications including Café Royal's Saltley 1978-79 and Everyday Jazz Lives (with Pedro Cravinho) and his own photozine Birmingham 2025.

See: Brian's website: https://www.brianhomer.com/

Ten8 magazine history from Derek Bishton: https://derekbishton.com/other-stuff/legacy-ten8/

Handsworth Self Portrait: https://handsworthselfportrait.co.uk/

BCU Archive: https://www.bcu.ac.uk/arts/art-and-design-archive/collections/brian-homer-collection

Images: (top) Brian shown centre, bearded, at the Gruncwick dispute in 1978 taken by Derek Bishton with Brian's camera; (left, top), the first issue of Ten8 magazine created by Brian Homer and Derek Bishton; (right) portrait from Handsworth Self Portrait; (left, below) Everyday Jazz Lives. 

Made Together explores Amber Films’ place within the 1980s Workshop Movement, a short but important period in British film culture when collective, non-commercial and regionally rooted filmmaking was given national support.

Presented at Tyneside Cinema, the display looks at how Amber developed films through long-term relationships with communities, combining research, documentary observation, drama, local knowledge and trust. It focuses on four key works from the period: Keeping Time (1983), Seacoal (1985), Double Vision (1986) and In Fading Light (1989). Together, these films show Amber’s commitment to working with people and places over time, rather than arriving with a fixed story.

Through production stills, scripts, notes, flyers and archival material, the display traces a filmmaking practice shaped by class, labour, gender, regional identity and everyday life. It also reflects on the wider legacy of the Workshop Movement, which argued that film could be made differently: collaboratively, accountably, and from outside the usual centres of power.

Shoreditch, London, based visual arts charity Autograph has received the entire photographic estate of Jamaican-British photographer Armet Francis. This is a significant body of work that brings over 70,000 images into their permanent collection of photography. Spanning more than four decades, Francis’s work celebrates the resilience and survival of African diasporic communities. To mark the gift, Autograph is sharing a selection of rarely seen archival photographs in a new online display.

For over forty years, Armet Francis’ mission in photography has been to document the African diaspora. As a Jamaican-British photographer with an acute understanding of black consciousness, his life-affirming images celebrate the resilience and survival of African diasporic cultures. Francis is now recognised as a pioneering figure in the photographic canon, best known for his social documentary, advertising and fashion images.

Francis’ archive encapsulates fragmented experiences of Pan-African diasporic communities: his 1970s Brixton Market fashion shoots are playful and rare frames of black joy and celebration; his 2008 commemorative portraits of those who arrived on the HMT Empire Windrush in 1948 are critical interventions that gave names to the faces of those who journeyed on that historic voyage that changed Britain forever. The archive also contains his seminal series The Black Triangle which guided his photographic practice from 1969.

In 2024 Francis was awarded a grant by independent charity Art360 to receive support in maintaining his archive of work – including inventory management, legal consultancy, photographic and film documentation. As a result of the Art360 project, the photographer has gifted his works to visual arts charity Autograph where it will be cared for as part of their collection of photography. This gift comprises over 70,000 images, including negatives, prints and archival material documenting Francis' career from the late 1960s onwards.

Francis was one of the founding signatories of Autograph in 1988, making this acquisition particualrly significant for the organisation. The charity is proud to have worked with the artist over many years across several artist commissions and his acclaimed solo exhibition Armet Francis: Beyond the Black Triangle at their London gallery in Shoreditch. Since 1988, Autograph’s mission has remained unchanged: to championed photography and the work of artists that explores issues of race, identity, representation, human rights and social justice.

A new online gallery brings together a selection of these photographs, many of which have rarely been seen in public. Together they offer an insight into Francis' lifelong commitment to documenting the communities across Africa, the Americas and Europe. The online gallery can be viewed at: autograph.org.uk/armet-francis

This acquisition highlights the charity’s ongoing commitment to preserve the legacy of practitioners, like Francis, who have recorded important diverse narratives that have contributed to the representation of Black British history. Autograph’s Director, Professor Mark Sealy, said: “Armet Francis forged a photographic practice as an act of historical resistance: a visual counter-archive confronting the enduring violence of the Atlantic Slave Trade and its afterlives in contemporary Black diasporic life. From his exhibition The Black Triangle at The Photographer’s Gallery in 1983 to the self-publication of the book, which carried the same title in 1985, Francis’s work emerged from and spoke directly to the radical tradition of Black Consciousness. His radicality is expansive, restless, and deeply interdisciplinary, driven by an urgent commitment to rupture dominant narratives and open new ways of seeing Black subjectivity. Moving across fashion, portraiture, and social documentary, Francis became foundational to the development of Autograph ABP, insisting on Black photography not as a marginal practice, but as a transformative cultural and political force. It is therefore with profound pride that we announce the archives of Armet Francis will be preserved and cared for in their rightful home, Autograph, where they will continue to provoke research, sharpen critical discourse, and inspire future generations.”

Art360’s Head of Artists' Services, Daniel Rudd, said: “I’m delighted to see Armet Francis’s archive enter Autograph’s collection, ensuring that the work of one of the most important photographic voices of his generation is preserved, studied and shared with future audiences. It has been a privilege to support this project and to help secure a permanent home for such a significant body of work. This outcome reflects the vital role organisations such as Autograph play in safeguarding photographic heritage and would not have been possible without the dedication and expertise of archivist Clare Hewitt and artist Eileen Perrier. As part of DACS’s commitment to supporting artists and protecting their legacy, we are proud to have played a role in helping secure greater recognition of, and long-term access to, this remarkable archive.”

Images: (top): Armet Francis, Fashion Shoot, Brixton Market, London , 1973. © Armet Francis. Collection of Autograph, London; (Centre):  Armet Francis, from the series Lambeth and Brixton Tube , 1994. © Armet Francis. Commissioned by Autograph, London; (lower): Armet Francis, Fashion shoot for 19 Magazine , c.1973. © Armet Francis. Collection of Autograph, London.

Robert Hunt reviewing the photography exhibited at the 1851 Great Exhibition in the Art Journal's Illustrated Catalogue of Industry of all Nations, observes: '...Some examples of forest scenery,and picturesque bits, selected with artistic taste from "the ancestral homes of England," are perfect studies for the artist to dwell upon...these are the productions of Mr Shaw of Birmingham who unites the skill of an artist with the experience gained by the long study of chemical science.' 

Does this exhibited work of his, I wonder, survive?

BPH recently reported on a public artwork commission to commemorate the work of pioneering Birmingham photographer George Shaw. Run by Colmore Life a call opens today (Monday) for a public vote on the six shortlisted entries. The winning design will be installed on the glass panels at the Town Hall tram stop, creating a striking new piece of public art inspired by Shaw’s remarkable legacy. You can find more information about the open call and wider project here.

Each of the artists has taken a unique approach to interpreting George Shaw’s life, achievements and impact on Birmingham. Below, you can learn more about each artist, explore their proposed designs and read a short summary of their creative vision. The public vote will form part of the final decision, alongside the views of our selection panel:

• Roo Kaur Dhissou – Artist
• Jo Gane – Artist and Photographic Historian
• Alexander Goodger – Director, Stourbridge Glass Museum
• Mike Mounfield – Chief Technical Officer, Birmingham Colmore
• Anna Sparham – Curator of Photographs, National Trust
• Ian Sergeant – Senior Curator, Global Majority Collections, Birmingham Museums Trust

Voting will open on Monday 6 July and closes at 5pm on Monday 13 July.

Details and vote here: https://colmorelife.co.uk/vote-for-your-favourite-george-shaw-artwork-proposal/

London's Cinema Museum has a  once-in-a-generation opportunity to buy its premises, the historic Grade II listed Lambeth Workhouse. It needs to raise £500,000 in five months to seal the deal and end decades of insecurity - and potential eviction. The Museum is the UK’s only museum dedicated to the experience of cinema going and is volunteer-run with no public funding. 

The Cinema Museum in London's Kennington was founded by film enthusiasts and collectors Ronald Grant and Martin Humphries in 1984 and became a registered charity in 1986. Its collection showcases their vast private collection of cinema history, memorabilia, and vintage artefacts, collected - and rescued - over many decades. 

As the Museum notes its home is not just a building; it is a living piece of cultural history: 

• The Chaplin Connection: Before he became a Hollywood icon, a young Charlie Chaplin lived and worked in the building when it was the Lambeth Workhouse.
• A Treasure Trove of Cinema History: Inside these walls sits an unparalleled collection of art deco cinema seats, vintage projectors, ushers' uniforms, and classic film posters. The Chaplin family themselves call it "the nearest thing that Britain has to a Chaplin Museum"
• A Community Hub: We are a vibrant cultural centre hosting regular independent screenings, local events, and educational tours and provide free and subsidised space to help local charities and initiatives.
• A Supportive Effective Resource: our spaces and collections are not just for looking at - we use them to run projects that make a massive impact on people's lives, young and old. And we share them, with other charities and community groups, who are all part of making life better for everyone. 

To secure its buuilding and future the Cinema Museum has launched a Crowdfunder to secure the £500,000 needed - or would welcome a supportive benefactor...

See details here, lend your support, and share the call: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/the-cinema-museum-buy-our-home

See the Museum website: https://cinemamuseum.org.uk/

A newly created charity has been established to preserve the legacies of Lee Miller, Roland Penrose and their associates.The Farleys House & Gallery Trust cares for Farleys, and the legacies of Lee Miller, Roland Penrose and their associates. The Trust's overview notes its onjectives 'to conserve and catalogue the lifestyle and holding of work by Lee Miller, Roland Penrose and their associates. To promote worldwide scholarship and dissemination of the lives and work of Lee Miller and Roland Penrose in a manner commensurate with the artistic and humanitarian principles of the artists. To establish and maintain buildings and land associated with Lee Miller and Roland Penrose.'

The new Trust was registered on 25 March and the trustees for the Farleys House & Gallery Trust are: Ami Bouhassane, Dr Patrick Elliott, Christine Erwood, Sarah Hopwood, Amanda Nevill CBE, Antony Penrose, and Eliza Penrose.

See: Charity Commission entry here
and website: https://www.farleyshouseandgallery.co.uk/about-farleys-house-gallery-trust/

Sotheby's New York is to offer a prototype camerad, named the Phantom, and designed by Noel Pemberton Billing. P-B was the designer of the Compass camera made be Le Coultre. The Phantom never made it beyond the prototype stage and it was dated to c.. The camera was originally sold at Christie's South Kensington in January 2001 where it sold for £146,750, against an estimate of £8,000-12,000 - then a world record auction price for a camera. Sotheby's have an estimate on the camera of US$30,000-50,000.

The Phantom Photographic Unit was one of the last engineering projects Billing worked on before his death. It has clear antecedents in the Compass camera which was taken to its logical conclusion with all aspects of the camera being built in to a single box. The Phantom camera, although larger than the Compass is of a very similar design and layout.
The Phantom, for which there appears to be no published report in any contemporary photographic periodical, was designed between 1944 and 1946. It was made by W. Rollason & Sons of Finchley, London, It was intended to be manufactured and sold complete for £25 in 1948. The prototype was never fully completed and is not fully working.

History of Science and Technology
Sotheby's New York
15 July 2026 from 1900 (BST)
Lot 23
See the Sotheby's description here: https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2026/history-of-science-technology-2/phantom-photographic-unit

and the original Christie's description: https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-1985601