The Half Moon Photography Workshop and Camerawork: Catalysts in the British Photographic Landscape (1972–1985)

Abstract

The history of the radical photography collective Half Moon Photography Workshop has not so far been the subject of in-depth research in accounts of 1970s British photography. At a moment when photography was gradually gaining recognition as an art form, its radical voice and independent stance played a fundamental role in shaping the photographic landscape in Britain. Between 1972 and 1985, Half Moon Photography Workshop initiated pioneering debates on the politics of photographic representation and the reinvention of documentary practices and was instrumental in the emergence of photographic theory. Based on archival research and interviews conducted with some founding members, this detailed history examines the initial project, tensions, and evolution of the organization, which started as the Half Moon Gallery in 1972, became the Half Moon Photography Workshop in October 1975, and eventually Camerawork in 1981, taking the name of its successful photography magazine Camerawork published from 1976. As a gallery, a publishing project, and a resource center equipped with darkrooms open to all, the East End organization acted as a catalyst in the expanding British photographic landscape of the 1970s. The new political context of the 1980s and unresolved internal tensions caused its demise in 1985.