Paul Trevor’s photographs of Liverpool in 1975 formed part of The Survival Programme, which featured pictures, interviews, drafts and other materials made by member of the Exit Photography Group – Nicholas Battye, Chris Steele-Perkins and Paul Trevor. Created between 1974 and 1979, the project recorded life in Britain’s inner cities, funded by the Gulbenkian, the University of Kent’s Arts Centre.
Mozart Street, Toxteth, Liverpool, 1975
Trevor’s pictures of Toxteth, Everton and other parts of Liverpool formed part of the show Like You’ve Never Been Away at the city’s Walker Gallery.
In 1975 I spent six months in Liverpool as one of three photographers of the Exit Photography Group collaborating on a long-term project about Britain’s inner cities. We photographed and recorded interviews in London, Birmingham, Newcastle, Glasgow, Liverpool and Belfast.
Survival Programmes: In Britain’s Inner Cities was published in 1982. Only a small fraction of the photographs we made was used in the book. After publication many unused images gradually faded from memory in the wake of other projects and commitments. In 2008 I received an email from someone I’d photographed as a 13-years-old boy in 1975. “If you are the same Paul as I remember I would love you to contact me because I would love to see some of the photos if they still exist.” This led to the work from that time being revisited and, in 2011, exhibited and published – most of it for the first time
“It was freezing cold and I had nowhere to stay. The first night I slept in the office of somebody at the university. Then I went to the Blackie and they put me up in Huskisson Street, they had a communal house.
“I walked around in Everton and went up to the high rise blocks and, just knocking on people’s doors, I found a room in a flat and that’s where I stayed.”
– Paul Trevor
Everton, 1975
Cullen Close, Everton, Liverpool 3
“I have very fond memories of my time spent recording life in Everton and Granby in 1975. Despite initially worrying whether I would be accepted into the community, people were very friendly and happy to be photographed. Britain’s inner cities were difficult places to live in during that era. Life was hard. But despite this I found people who were grappling through life with humour and energy.”
– Paul Trevor
Bedford Street South
Lodge Lane, Toxteth, 1975
The Boulevard, 1975
Rosebery Street, Toxteth, Liverpool
Haigh Heights, Everton
Mozart Street outing to Ainsdale, 1975
Mozart Street
Mozart Street
Haigh Street, Everton
In 2013, Paul talked about his work:
Via: Paul Trevor on Flickr, Paul Trevor’s website
More: British Kids in The 1980s – Brilliant Photographs of Carefree Days
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