Sheffield

This man and his photographs resonate deeply across the memories of my youth. The photo of the miner in the fancy dress police helmet inspecting the police picket line is an iconic remembrance of the early 80s and the area I grew up in. Many of these photos are as rural as they are urban in their settings and if you’re anywhere near Weston Park in the next few weeks you should definitely pop in and see them.

From the mundanities of everyday life in South Yorkshire to some of the most striking images of British industrial struggle, the first major retrospective of the work of photographer Martin Jenkinson is to go on display in Sheffield.

Jenkinson, a former steelworker, is known for his enduring images of British protests in the 1980s as well as his moving and humorous insights into the steel city’s character.

His most famous work includes the arrest of Arthur Scargill and the image of a smiling pit worker wearing a fake police helmet inspecting police officers without identification numbers during the Orgreave miners’ strike in 1984.

The exhibition, Who We Are, at Weston Park Museum, will showcase more than 80 of his photographs spanning four decades. Among the images on display will be a portrait of Maxine Duffat, South Yorkshire Passenger Transport’s first black female bus driver, and a photograph of 1,500 people queuing to apply for 50 jobs at a new Sheffield restaurant in 1983.