RIOTS & RAMBLING
Our archive shots of post-thatcher years in Cov and Warwickshire
THE aftermath of the Thatcher years in Coventry and Warwickshire wasn’t all sink estates and dole queues.
Undeniably, there was inner-city malaise, unemployment and the riots that raged in the city over four days in May 1992. The scenes of listless urban life were captured by acclaimed German photographer Peter Bialobrzeski at the time and form part of his new collection.
However, a dip into our archives shows the city did strike some upbeat notes as the Iron Lady slipped from view.
Among the images are the excitable crowds at the opening of West Orchards Shopping Centre and ramblers out enjoying the countryside for The Snowball Trust, which supports children and young people who have a disability and live in Coventry and Warwickshire.
Our own images are in contrast to the absorbing portraits, which have a sullen air, taken by Bialobrzeski. He has dusted off the time-freeze snapshots taken in and around the city’s housing estates to form part of a retrospective showing life in England at the time.
The portraits include teenagers looking listless as they hang about on a run-down estate and a lone man who appears lost in thought as he drags on a cigarette in a club.
Bialobrzeski took the pictures in 1991 and 1992 for a photo-essay that formed part of a diploma at Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, Germany.
An outsider in a changing society, he found the dust settling on the Margaret Thatcher era and there is a gloomy tone to the background of the images showing various ‘tribes’ at play.
The photographer’s new book, Give My Regards To Elizabeth, also includes pictures of British Legion parades, run-down funfairs, Oxford balls and at Epsom racetrack, with one picture showing women looking pensive in summer frocks. Counter-posed against Bialobrzeski’s pictures, some of the Telegraph’s shots even appear to show a boom time, with crowds heading for the mall and football stands.