Entertainment · Books & Arts · 5 hrs ago
1979 Handsworth portrait project seeks funding for a book
In 1979, three photographers set up a street studio in Handsworth, an inner-city area of Birmingham.
Derek Bishton, Brian Homer and John Reardon invited local neighbours to pose for portraits.
Long cable releases let participants choose how they wanted to be seen, at a time before camera phones.
The project was intended to challenge negative media images of Handsworth and its people.
Now the photographers’ portraits are being brought together in book form with Dewi Lewis Publishing.
A Kickstarter fund has been set up to support the book.
The project’s next step is to raise funding through the campaign.
Photographers Derek Bishton, Brian Homer and John Reardon are seeking funding to publish a book of portraits made in Handsworth in 1979.
The photographers set up an impromptu street studio in inner-city Birmingham and invited local residents to take part.
Long cable releases let participants control how they were photographed and represented.
The project originally aimed to counter negative media images of Handsworth and its people.
A Kickstarter fund has been set up in collaboration with Dewi Lewis Publishing.
- Who
- Photographers Derek Bishton, Brian Homer and John Reardon, in collaboration with Dewi Lewis Publishing.
- What
- A Kickstarter fund is seeking to bring portraits from the Handsworth self-portrait project together in a book.
- When
- The portraits were made in 1979; the funding campaign was reported on 15 October 2026.
- Where
- Handsworth, inner-city Birmingham.
- Why
- The project originally aimed to counter negative media images of Handsworth and its people.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Photographers Derek Bishton, Brian Homer and John Reardon set up a street studio in Handsworth and invited their neighbours to take portraits.
A Kickstarter fund was reported as having been set up with Dewi Lewis Publishing to bring the portraits together in a book.
- Photographers
- Derek Bishton, Brian Homer and John Reardon
- Project year
- 1979
- Location
- Handsworth, inner-city Birmingham
- Funding platform
- Kickstarter
- Publishing partner
- Dewi Lewis Publishing