Photographs of Solidarity and Archival Memory in the Miners’ Strike 1984–1985

Abstract

The paper discusses the cultural memory of the Miners’ Strike 1984–1985 and questions the role that photographic documents can play in the process of memorialization of the events. The photographs of solidarity groups composed of women and LGBT people taken by Format agency photographers and currently held in archives have been largely understudied. The paper discusses whether revisiting these neglected photographic documents taken at the time might enable for a reassessment of the cultural memory of the miners’ strike from the perspective of female photographers.