The Camera: A Powerful Weapon To Uncover Social Changes

For many of us, the first thing we do in the morning is to look at our phones and get an idea of what is going on in the world, via our social media feeds. Such an easy act to uncover the latest news as well as whatever headline, scandal or trend is capturing everyone’s attention. Find out more in The Camera: A Powerful Weapon To Uncover Social Changes

Image on left-hand side Pam Isherwood, Stop Clause 28 march, Whitehall, London, 9 January 1988 © Bishopsgate Institute.

These words and images can vary in content and be from close to our communities as well as further away, allowing all of us to be aware of what’s going on locally and globally. And because we walk around with phones, containing powerful cameras, we can add to this image phenomenon very easily, in fact, probably without really thinking of how we got to this point.

Everyone can take a picture, share it and post it online. Everyone can capture an everyday moment, and therefore everyone can document the social life of themselves and others, as well as events going on around them.

It’s hard to imagine the early days of photography, invented in 1839 it initially was heavy and complicated. By the end of the 18th century, it was far more commonplace but it wasn’t until the 20th century that many people owned a camera themselves.

As photography progressed and things like printing became cheaper, events were not only shared with words in newspapers anymore but images on the printed pages were more able to highlight the story or event. Many more people were aware of what was going around not just locally but also around the country or even the world.

Photography impacted our view of the world by allowing everyone to not paint a picture in their head but to see it in the real-time moment. In many respects, this brought about a period of social change, we were all not so cosseted in our own universe.

When initially invented the image makers used their tools in many ways as artists had done, portraits landscapes etc. Going forward many photographers decided to use their cameras to document what they deemed to be important enough to capture.

Things within their communities and beyond, problems arising and newness. Suddenly, everyone who hadn’t seen far-away realities before could now understand the world better thanks to photography.

From social issues to war, via pop culture, to politics, world events and tragedies. These new photographic images changed perceptions forever. This is one of the reasons why the camera became so powerful at the beginning of the 20th century.

The exhibition NOW FILMING at Four Corners Museum exposes the use of photographs in a time when social issues were still undercover and known by few.

Their collection of photographs were all taken during the 1930s in East London by the Workers Film and Photo League (WFPL), an organisation of filmmakers, photographers, and writers from the 1930s.

This group used their camera as a weapon to uncover the social problems that the working class was experiencing at the time, such as hunger, and unemployment but also the impact of the rise of fascism. A lot of marches were made by those experiencing these difficult times, as this one below captured in East London by the Workers’ Camera Club. Photography aimed to make these movements even bigger as well as capture the essence of the march.

U.A.B. March East London, Workers’ Camera Club,1935, courtesy of Film and Photo League Archive

Through these photographs, the experience can be felt and its impact on reactions during the 30s in London and the UK. Here this picture shows a man grabbing some bread on the floor, this picture screams hunger and poverty.

Bread, 1934, courtesy of Bishopsgate Institute Special Collection

For a broader look at this uncovering of social problems through photographs, the Turner Contemporary is holding an exhibition, Resistance, curated by British film director, film producer, screenwriter, and video artist Steve Mcqueen CBE.

It covers a much broader period in the UK, from the early 1900s to the early 2000s. From the radical suffrage movement of 1903 to the anti-Iraq war protests of 2003, via the hunger marches of the 1930s, as well as The Battle of Cable Street 1936,(fighting the British Union of Fascists led by Oswald Mosley) amongst many other social movements of the past century.

Early social movements against fascism were seen in England and The Battle of Cable Street on October 4th 1936 in London was certainly among the most famous. Eddie Worth captured this powerful moment of an anti-fascist demonstrator being arrested during the Battle.

Eddie Worth, An anti-fascist demonstrator is taken away under arrest after a mounted baton charge during the Battle of Cable Street, London, 4 October 1936 © Alamy.

Another striking photograph available while wandering between the immense collection of Resistance is this powerful image defending LGBTQ+ rights against the section 28 clause(left). This clause forbade local authorities and schools from promoting or teaching LGBTQ+ rights.

The photographer Pam Isherwood, who has made gay rights her social issue to uncover, captured a strong moment, leading to social change decades later.

Finally, protests against the war in Iraq in 2003; the last event portrayed in the era without digital pictures in Resistance. Andrew Wiard captured a powerful shot delivering an anti-war message from the perspective of an endless number of people, way past the frame of the image.

Demonstration against the imminent invasion of Iraq by Stop the War Coalition, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the Muslim Association of Britain, 15 February 2003 © Andrew Wiard / reportphotos.com. Courtesy of Andrew Wiard

In the morning as we scroll through our phones, a little more time thinking about this history and the social importance of images may well give a greater context. In a day and age of fake news and AI images, the past has, at least, allowed the truth to be uncovered.

NOW FILMING: Art, Documentary and
Resistance in 1930s East London (24 January – 22 February 2025), at Four Corners (fourcorners.org).

Resistance, curated by Steve McQueen (22 February – 1 June 2025), at Turner Contemporary (turnercontemporary.org).

If you enjoyed reading The Camera: a Powerful Weapon to Uncover Social Changes then also consider reading Grewal’s Window to the World.

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