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"Victor's work captures an unseen side of Black Britain, a distinctly Bradfordian vision. It's hard, it's tough, but it's also soft and disarming. It's real life captured by the only person who could."
– Lanre Bakare, author of We Were There
Taken by self-taught photographer Victor Wedderburn, these images capture the diverse communities of Bradford in the 1980s.
Wedderburn took the majority of his photos in and around Lumb Lane, in Manningham, which was home to a significant number of immigrants primarily from the Caribbean. Though they had been invited to move to the UK to fill labour shortages following the Second World War, they often found themselves the targets of hostility and violence. Lumb Lane became known as 'the Frontline' because of the racial hostility faced by residents.
However, as displayed here, local businesses such as the Young Lions Café, Roots Record Shop and The Perseverance Hotel (where West Indian music was played late into the night), fostered a sense of identity and provided the community with much needed spaces to connect and socialise.
This year, after discovering Wedderburn's photography through his Facebook, the team behind Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture worked with him to identify the sitters and exhibit the images in a seminal and extensive exhibition at Loading Bay with support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and a further selection are currently on display at the National Science & Media Museum until 29 October 2025.
Manuel and Janet’s daughters playing
Janice and Beverley outside The Young Lions Café
Brothers Adam and Simon in their garden on Hilltop Road
Manny and friends playing a pinball machine at The Young Lions Café
A customer at Melanie and Janet's newly opened cosmetics shop, Shade
Yvonne and Michael
Roland on Lumb Lane
Roy outside Cunliffe Vilas in Manningham with his beloved Sunbeam Alpine Mk 5
Bazil, his wife and their child crossing the road
Dani (aka Jock) with his Walkman cassette player
Gail, Steve and Jerry on the green outside The Perseverance Hotel
Mycall behind The Perseverance Hotel
Norville carrying a Hitachi boombox outside The Perseverance Hotel
Paul (left) in Bradford City Centre
At a social event
Outside The Perseverance Hotel
Beverley, Josephine and Yvonne by The Perseverance Hotel
The owner of the corner shop at the top of Leeds Road
Bingey, a baby and Leeroy behind The Perseverance Hotel
Keith (aka Lucky) and Trevor
Ransford, Cornelius (aka Boots) and Mycall outside The Perseverance Hotel
Mycall outside The Young Lions Café
Socialising outside of Anis Super Discount Store
Melanie and Janet in their newly opened cosmetics shop Shade on Lumb Lane
Group with Rudolph, Alan, Norman and Pikey D
Anti-Apartheid Rally in Huddersfield
Victor Wedderburn was born on 7 December 1954 in the Parish of Manchester, Jamaica. When Wedderburn was just a small boy, his father moved to England in the hope of setting up a new life for the family, followed shortly after by his mother. He remained in Jamaica until the age of 16, when he joined his parents in Bradford.
After graduating from Wyke Manor School at 18, Wedderburn worked as a lorry driver for 10 years before being made redundant. He used his modest redundancy pay to pursue a long-held ambition: photography. He bought a second-hand Single Lens Reflex (SLR) camera and a colour photography kit to develop photos himself. In April 2025, Wedderburn had his first exhibition as part of the Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture, quickly followed by a second exhibition at Bradford’s National Science & Media Museum.
Autograph would like to thank Lanre Bakare for bringing this work to our attention and the team at Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture for discovering and digitising Wedderburn's full collection and working so comprehensively with the artist to prepare his images and story for public presentation and celebration.
With thanks to Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture, Victor Wedderburn and community partners – including Checkpoint: Bradford's West Indian Community Centre, Dominica Association Bradford and Windrush Generations UK – for their support of this project and for working extensively to identify and reconnect with the people featured in the photographs featured here.
Banner image: Victor Wedderburn, Melanie and Janet in their newly opened cosmetics shop Shade [detail], c.1984-1985. © and courtesy of Victor Wedderburn.
Images on page: All © and courtesy of Victor Wedderburn.
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Autograph is a space to see things differently. Since 1988, we have championed photography that explores issues of race, identity, representation, human rights and social justice, sharing how photographs reflect lived experiences and shape our understanding of ourselves and others.
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