Tish Murtha's Youth Unemployment to be shown at Bridport Arts Centre

Tish Murtha’s documentation of the forgotten children of Thatcher's Britain will be on display in the Allsop Gallery, Bridport Arts Centre, in September.

This series of photographs shot by Tish over a few years starting in 1979, were first exhibited in 1981.

She says they capture the hardship that she and the north east of England suffered during the Thatcher era and the people in the images were her family, friends and local community.

In the west end of Newcastle Tish saw the dereliction of young lives amid the dereliction of an area with more than double the unemployment rate of the city as a whole. She had first hand experience of what it was like to be young and on the dole, and so she wanted to try to help others who saw no real future for themselves by highlighting the issue.

A newspaper review of youth unemployment including an interview with Tish regarding her subject matter was read aloud for debate in the House of Commons in 1981.

Her daughter Ella Murtha said: "Looking back all these years later, what hits me above all else is that my mam had hope. She hoped by showing the reality of these kids' lives, and the waste and squandering of their potential, that she could somehow bring about a change."

Tish Murtha - Youth Unemployment looks at the landscape of the lives of young people growing up in the West End of Newcastle from 1979 - 1981.

The exhibition opens at Bridport Arts Centre on Saturday September 9 and runs until Saturday October 14. It is open from Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 4pm.