Exhibition: Hackney in the 1980s

Hosted by Hackney Museum, the exhibition brings 1980s Hackney to life through photographs found in the basement of the Rio Cinema, Dalston.

The extraordinary discovery of over 12,000 photographic slides took place during a recent refurbishment by cinema staff and eventually linked them back to the Tape/Slide Project – a groundbreaking community photography initiative, which captured life in the borough during the eighties. Photographer Alan Denney soon came on board to help clean, restore and digitise the slides revealing Hackney’s rich history in photojournalism and activism.

On display for the first time, and available to visit in person now at the Hackney Museum, this unique collection explores the highs and lows of everyday life in the borough, alongside some of the key social and political events of the decade. They also capture the resilience and solidarity of Hackney’s communities in the 1980s in the face of poverty, racism, housing shortages and government cuts.