Frontline 1984/1985

Name: Frontline 1984/1985 – 11th of May
Start: 2025-05-11T00:00:00+00:00
Location: Loading Bay

Victor Wedderburn

A fascinating exhibition that explored Bradford's African Caribbean communities in the ’80s.

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African Caribbean communities in the 1980s were brought vividly back to life in local photographer Victor Wedderburn’s first exhibition.

Victor Wedderburn Jr arrived in the UK from Jamaica in 1971 at the age of 16, joining his Windrush Generation parents here in Bradford. When redundancy took his job at Crofts Engineers in the early 1980s, he used his pay-off to buy a second-hand camera and film developing kit, then set about documenting life in the city.

Frontline 1984/1985, the first ever exhibition from this self-taught photographer, vividly evoked African Caribbean life in Bradford 40 years ago. From Lumb Lane landmarks such as Roots Record Shop and the Perseverance Hotel to sound system parties and anti-apartheid marches, these photographs told a story that’s sometimes written out of Bradford’s history.

This is a powerful evocation of a lost era – a striking snapshot of a community that Victor Wedderburn knew from the inside out.

In Conversation With: Victor Wedderburn & Tim Smith

In this short film, we bring Victor and Tim together for a journey through Victor’s memories of life on Lumb Lane known to locals as 'the Frontline' in the early 1980s, as both photographers look ahead to their respective exhibitions as part of Bradford 2025.

National Science & Media Museum exhibition

There was a further opportunity to view Victor Wedderburn’s photographs in 2025 with a selection exhibited in the foyer of the National Science & Media Museum.

Credits

Commissioned by Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture.

With thanks to Checkpoint - Bradford's West Indian Community Centre, Dominica Association Bradford and Windrush Generations UK for their support of this project.

The project team, alongside Victor Wedderburn would like to thank all of the individuals and families featured in these photographs who have kindly supported the development of this project.

Lead image: © Victor Wedderburn