Hospital puts focus on past to reveal changing face of Glasgow
THEY seemed to be far simpler days, when life moved at a more gentle pace.
With his camera by his side, former hospital porter Alan Dimmick captured the everyday life of Glasgow as it was – eventually amassing a collection of more than 90,000 photographs, each telling its own story of changing social and cultural history in a diverse and changing city.
Now, in a link back to his former role as a porter at Glasgow’s Southern General Hospital, a carefully selected group of his photographs has been gathered for a new exhibition at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.
It includes images of Glasgow from the 1970s to the present day, intended to provide a glimpse into a familiar past of the ever-changing fabric of the city, sparking conversations and memories of times gone by.
They include a nostalgic portrait of shopkeepers at the Windsor Cafe in Clarence Drive, Hyndland, snapped in 1979 – a year when Abba played the Glasgow Apollo and Elizabeth Taylor lunched at the Rogano.
One of the remarkable images from that same year records a moment in the city’s rugby history.
With their backs to the camera, leaping in the air with arms raised as they performed their famous haka, and in familiar black tops and shirts, the New Zealand rugby stars had arrived at Hughenden sports fields in Hyndland as part of their end of year tour.
The bruising encounter between the All Blacks and a Glasgow squad drafted from various local sides could have been worse: it ended 12-6 to the visitors.
It is just one of many moments in time captured on film by Mr Dimmick, who was a teenager in 1977 when he acquired his first camera and embarked on his remarkable lifelong personal challenge to document city life.
Around that time he worked as a porter at the Southern General, the now QEUH, in the same building as his father, who was a neuroscientist. His mother, meanwhile, worked north of the river at the Western Infirmary, and his sister at Gartnavel.
Health features in his images – one of the photographs on display in the exhibition include a touching image captured at the Southern General of two exhausted mothers cradling their newborns.
The new QEUH exhibition was curated by Will Cooper and forms part of the continuing Animating Public Spaces programme for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. Working with NHS staff, local artists and arts organisations and other stakeholders, the initiative aims to offer high-quality, international contemporary art in Glasgow’s primary healthcare settings, providing hospital users space to rest, reflect, and recover.
Mr Dimmick said: “It’s humbling to think your pictures might have that sort of positive impact on someone in a time of need.
“There’s something special about pictures being used to help people in ways I wouldn’t ordinarily have envisioned.
“For patients and visitors to the QEUH, it could be to remind them of a certain time, or take them to a certain place in the past that brings them comfort.
“More simply, the exhibition might provide a welcome distraction or temporary respite. ”
Jackie Sands, who is the NHSGGC arts and health co-ordinator and lead for the Animating Public
Spaces, said: “Glasgow has a real depth of history that Alan has captured beautifully over the years. We wanted to bring a slice of that to the QEUH so our patients and staff can enjoy it.”
The display can be seen in the main QEUH atrium.
It’s humbling to think your pictures might have that sort of positive impact on someone