Side Gallery facts for kids
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| Former name | Side Gallery and Cinema |
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| Established | 1977 |
| Location | 5-9 Side, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 3JE |
| Type | Registered charity |
| Collections | "an extensive documentary record of the region" |
| Collection size | 20,000 photographs; 10,000 slides; 100 films; 6TB digital assets |
| Founder | Murray Martin, Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, Graham Smith, plus Graham Denman, Peter Roberts and Lorna Powers |
| Owner | Amber Film & Photography Collective |
Side Gallery is a special place in Newcastle upon Tyne where you can see amazing photographs. It's run by a group called the Amber Film & Photography Collective. This gallery first opened in 1977 and was called Side Gallery and Cinema. Its main goal was to show "humanist photography," which means pictures that focus on people and their lives.
Side Gallery is the only place in the UK completely dedicated to "documentary photography." This type of photography tells stories about real life and events. The gallery is located in a street called Side, near the Tyne Bridge in Newcastle's Quayside area.
The gallery closed on April 9, 2023. This happened because it lost some important funding and energy bills became very high. Side Gallery started a fundraising campaign to help it reopen. The campaign ended on May 30, 2023, and the gallery worked towards reopening in 2024.
Contents
History of Side Gallery
How the Gallery Started
The very first exhibition at Side Gallery was called Documents in the North East. It opened in 1977 and showed the work of four photographers. These photographers were Robert Hamilton Carling, James Henry Cleet, Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, and Graham Smith.
Famous Photographers at Side Gallery
In 1978, a very famous photographer named Henri Cartier-Bresson had a special exhibition at Side Gallery. This was a "retrospective" show, meaning it looked back at many of his works from over the years.
Gallery Improvements and Reopening
In 2015, the gallery closed for about a year and a half to make big improvements. It reopened in September 2016 with exciting new features. A second exhibition space was added, giving more room to show photographs. They also added a library and a study area where people could learn and look at the collection digitally.
Exhibitions at Side Gallery
Side Gallery has hosted many interesting exhibitions over the years. Here are a few examples from its early days:
- 1977: Documents in the North East' This was the first show, featuring photos by Robert Hamilton Carling, James Henry Cleet, Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, and Graham Smith.
- 1977: Singular Realities' This exhibition showed photos from many different artists, curated by Gerry Badger.
- 1977: New York in the Thirties – The photographs of Berenice Abbott' This show featured pictures of New York City from the 1930s by Berenice Abbott.
- 1977: A Vision of Paris – The photographs of Eugene Atget' This exhibition displayed photos of Paris by Eugene Atget. It was shown alongside Viva, which featured works from several photographers like Claude Raimond-Dityvon and Martine Franck.
Side Gallery's Collection
The gallery has a large collection of photographs. It includes "an extensive documentary record of the region," meaning many pictures that show the history and life of the local area. The collection also features works by important photographers like Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, Russell Lee, Lewis Hine, and Susan Meiselas.
Some of the famous exhibitions that are now part of the gallery's collection include:
- Tish Murtha's Juvenile Jazz Bands (from 1979)
- Konttinen's Step by Step (from 1984)
- Dean Chapman's Shifting Ground (from 2001)
- Karen Robinson's All Dressed Up (from 2005)
