The Camera as Witness: articulating Black lived experiences in Liverpool and the North West through photography pre-1948

This doctoral project aims to critically explore visual representations of Black communities and the 'lived experience of Blackness' (Fanon 1986) in Britain - with a focus on the North West - during first half of the 20th century. Studies of photography of and by Black communities tend to centre on photographers and images in post-war Britain after the arrival of Empire Windrush on British shores - often positioned as the watershed moment of migration and presence. Through archival analysis, this research seeks to expand and nuance this notion by investigating the existence and nature of pre-1948 photography, its contexts of production and use, and evaluate existing approaches to its interpretation and collection.

Although significant work has been undertaken by scholars like Stuart Hall (1984) Mark Sealy (2019) and Paul Gilroy (1993; 2011), there is less research into the documentation of the Black 'lived experience' outside of London. This lack of representation is particularly noticeable for Liverpool - a multicultural port city and widely recognised as home to the oldest Black community. Although exact population figures cannot be definitively stated, 1919 and 1948 were key dates in which Liverpool, along with other port cities saw significant moments of racially motivated violence against its Black communities.

Using key theorisations like those from Hall (1984) and Campt (2017) that position photography as tool of self-construction and its readings as sensory, this research asks how Black identities in Britain were articulated in front of and behind the lens, against the backdrop of racial tension, colonialism, and Empire. It also asks how visibility and presence was expressed through photography by considering the spatial contexts in which such images existed, was used, and circulated. With my own family history and connection to Liverpool as a starting point, this project explores the historical and sensory dimensions to seeing, finding, and reading photography; asking what its existence and absence, tells us of Black lived experiences.

Resonating with wider anti-racist conversations in cultural institutions, this project will collaboratively inform interpretive, archiving, and cataloguing practices that support understandings of the historical breadth of Black lived experiences. Using theory that addresses the agency of objects and photographs, this project will investigate practices through which images depicting early Black communities can be reinterpreted and reactivated. Through working with cultural institutions and relevant communities, this project will contribute to developing an inclusive and flexible approach to future interpretive practice.