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After the End of History: British Working Class Photography 1989 - 20243 October - 14 December 2025
Public preview: Thursday 2 October, 6-8pm, all welcome
Ffotogallery, Cardiff.
This exhibition brings together working class artists who use photography to explore the nuances of life in all its diversity today, turning their gaze towards both their communities and out to the wider world.
Curated by photographer, author and broadcaster, Johny Pitts, After the End of History will offer a picture of working-class life today; from Rene Matic’s portrait of growing up mixed race in a white working-class community in Peterborough, to Elaine Constaintine's documentation of the Northern Soul scene, to Kavi Pujara ode to Leicester's Hindu community, and JA Mortram’s documentation throughout his life of marginalised people while working as a caregiver.
The year 2024 marked 35 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the symbolic end of Communism. For the economist Francis Fukuyama, writing in the early 1990s, this celebrated triumph of Western Liberal Democracy as the only viable future for global politics represented the “End of History”. The counter-cultural energies of the 1980s, very often powered up by the alternative ideologies embodied by Communism, and a reaction against Thatcherism, produced a collective, coherent and politically engaged generation of working-class artists. But after the so-called “End of History” was announced in the 1990s, what became of working-class culture and the working class creative? What kind of images has working-class life produced in the last 35 years? After The End of History aims to illuminate these questions.
Among the artists featured in this exhibition are Richard Billingham, Sam Blackwood, Serena Brown, Antony Cairns, Rob Clayton, Joanne Coates, Josh Cole, Artúr Conka, Elaine Constantine, Natasha Edgington, Richard Grassick, Anna Magnowska, Rene Matic, J A Mortram, Kelly O'Brien, Eddie Otchere, Kavi Pujara, Khadija Saye, Chris Shaw, Trevor Smith, Ewen Spencer, Hannah Starkey, Igoris Taran, Nathaniel Telemaque, Barbara Wasiak and Tom Wood.
After the End of History: British Working Class Photography 1989- 2024 is a Hayward Gallery Touring exhibition curated by Johny Pitts with Hayward Gallery Touring. Supported at Ffotogallery by The Gwendoline and Margaret Davies Charity.
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After the End of History: British Working Class Photography 1989 - 2024
3 Hydref - 14 Rhagfyr 2025
Rhagolwg: Dydd Iau 2il Hydref 2025, 6 - 8pm, croeso i bawb
Ffotogallery, Caerdydd
Mae'r arddangosfa hon yn dwyn ynghyd artistiaid dosbarth gweithiol sy'n defnyddio ffotograffiaeth i archwilio naws bywyd yn ei holl amrywiaeth heddiw, gan droi eu golwg tuag at eu cymunedau ac allan i'r byd ehangach.
Wedi'i guradu gan y ffotograffydd, awdur a darlledwr, Johny Pitts, bydd After the End of History yn cynnig darlun o fywyd dosbarth gweithiol heddiw; o bortread Rene Matic o dyfu i fyny fel hil gymysg mewn cymuned dosbarth gweithiol gwyn yn Peterborough, i ddogfennaeth Elaine Constaintine o olygfa'r Northern Soul, i awdl Kavi Pujara i gymuned Hindŵaidd Leicester, a dogfennaeth JA Mortram drwy gydol ei oes o bobl sydd wedi'u hymylu tra'n gweithio fel gofalwr.
Bydd y flwyddyn 2024 yn nodi 35 mlynedd ers cwymp Wal Berlin, a diwedd symbolaidd Comiwnyddiaeth. I’r economegydd Francis Fukuyama, wrth ysgrifennu ar ddechrau’r 1990au, roedd y fuddugoliaeth ddathlu hon o Ddemocratiaeth Ryddfrydol y Gorllewin fel yr unig ddyfodol hyfyw i wleidyddiaeth fyd-eang yn cynrychioli “Diwedd Hanes”. Cynhyrchodd egni gwrth-ddiwylliannol y 1980au, a oedd yn aml iawn wedi'i bweru gan yr ideolegau amgen a ymgorfforir gan Gomiwnyddiaeth, ac adwaith yn erbyn Thatcheriaeth, genhedlaeth gyfunol, gydlynol ac yn ymwneud â gwleidyddiaeth o artistiaid dosbarth gweithiol. Ond ar ôl i’r hyn a elwir yn “Ddiwedd Hanes” gael ei gyhoeddi yn y 1990au, beth ddaeth i ddiwylliant y dosbarth gweithiol a chreadigol y dosbarth gweithiol? Pa fath o ddelweddau y mae bywyd dosbarth gweithiol wedi'u cynhyrchu yn ystod y 35 mlynedd diwethaf? Bwriad After The End of History yw goleuo'r cwestiynau hyn.
Ymhlith yr artistiaid sy'n ymddangos yn yr arddangosfa hon mae Richard Billingham, Sam Blackwood, Serena Brown, Antony Cairns, Rob Clayton, Joanne Coates, Josh Cole, Artúr Conka, Elaine Constantine, Natasha Edgington, Richard Grassick, Anna Magnowska, Rene Matic, JA Mortram, Kelly O'Brien, Eddie Otchere, Kavi Pujara, Khadija Saye, Chris Shaw, Trevor Smith, Ewen Spencer, Hannah Starkey, Igoris Taran, Nathaniel Telemaque, Barbara Wasiak a Tom Wood.
After the End of History: British Working Class Photography 1989- 2024 yn arddangosfa Deithiol Oriel Hayward a guradwyd gan Johny Pitts gyda Hayward Gallery Touring. Cefnogir yn Ffotogallery gan Elusen Gwendoline a Margaret Davies.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Ffotogallery, Fanny Street, CF24 4EH Cardiff, United Kingdom, Cardiff, United Kingdom
