Lived-In Rooms at Tenancy house

Lived-In Rooms at Tenancy house, Salford, Manchester, 22 November–1 December 2019, free entry - Visit now

We are currently witnessing a restructuring of Manchester’s urban geography unlike any seen before. As more of the city becomes people’s homes, Lived-In rooms is a photographic exploration into the relationship between families, city living and the changing nature of urban housing.

Produced by the arts organisation Quarantine, the Lived-In rooms exhibition places photographs from renowned documentary photographers Daniel Meadows and Martin Parr, taken in 1973, in juxtaposition with photographer Gavin Parry’s modern response. Meadows and Parr’s seminal June Street series respectfully depicts the residents of June Street in Salford amongst their family homes. They were taken just before these terraces were demolished and the families moved into new high rise developments. The series is seen as encompassing what working class life was like at a time when the housing situation in Salford was seen as a total disgrace.

find markers of the ways in which city living and housing development have affected residents in Salford over the past 50 years

In comparison, Gavin Parry’s new work takes the residents of a new estate of modular terraced housing in Irwell Riverside, in Salford, as it’s subject. This estate created by urban splash is one of many which are bringing terraced housing back into fashion. With their sleek exteriors, these newly built communities are a look into the future of urban development and city living.

With these two worlds positioned in such close proximity we see a narrative arc forming between the families whose communities were being broken apart, and the new residents whose community is just beginning to start out. Within the photos, you can find markers of the ways in which city living and housing development have affected residents in Salford over the past 50 years. However, there may be more to see in the parallels between the two situations and the common ground between the residents.

This exhibition is part of Quarantine’s longer-term Tenancy programme. A residency in which the organisation have rented a house on the Irwell Riverside estate from which they’ve curated artist residencies and programmed events that respond to the urban development of Manchester.