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Side: Documents of Working-Class Life

Side is a cultural hub located on Newcastle's historic Quayside, home to the internationally recognised Side Gallery, Side Cinema, and the AmberSide collection - a UNESCO-registered photographic collection and archive documenting working-class life in the North East of England and beyond.

Founded in 1977, Side represents a dynamic intersection of art, activism, and community, dedicated to recording and preserving the experiences of working-class people around the world through artist-led humanist documentary photography and film.

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Can I Say Shalom?, 1990s ©Miriam Reik

MySide

Show us your side of life

We’re inviting you to share your life and community through documentary photography as part of MySide, and right now we're looking for responses to the prompt “Ways We Celebrate”. Maybe it’s Diwali lights in the window, Bonfire Night with neighbours, Halloween on your street, a Christmas market, or New Year’s Eve with friends. Maybe it’s a quiet meal, a small ritual, or a moment of reflection. We want to see what brings people together and how we find joy, comfort, and connection in the places we share.

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What's on

Shipshape
On Now

Shipshape

Photography by Hazel Plater and Sasha Mallo Tardiveau

Exhibitions

Wallsend Library

02 Oct 2025 - 31 Oct 2025

Explore more at Side

Side is currently closed

Every donation, no matter how small, will make a huge difference in helping us continue our mission to share stories that matter from the North East and beyond.

Your donations to the SaveSide campaign enabled us to raise major development funding to help build a more stable future for Side as an arts organisation.

All fundraising goes to the AmberSide Trust (registered charity number: 1160760) to help fund Side’s ongoing community work, finance the continued care of the UNESCO-registered AmberSide Collection, enable future exhibitions and partnerships, and guarantee continued public access to documentary photography in the North East.

Donate now

Beyond the frame

Explore the people and stories behind our work

Peter Caton: Unyielding Floods

Peter Caton: Unyielding Floods

October 23rd, 2025

Side

Interview

We spoke to photographer Peter Caton about "Unyielding Floods", his four-year project documenting how communities in South Sudan adapt to rising water and live with the reality of a changing climate.
Amber: Saving the Quayside

Amber: Saving the Quayside

October 21st, 2025

Laura Laffler

In Focus

Learn how Amber Film & Photography Collective helped protect Newcastle’s Quayside in the 1970s, blending art and activism to preserve its historic architecture.
MySide: A Kind of Stillness

MySide: A Kind of Stillness

October 11th, 2025

MySide

Photo Essay

Photographs from our MySide open call, exploring how stillness and quiet moments can hold memory, emotion and a sense of belonging.
Antonio Balisciano: Beneath Vesuvius

Antonio Balisciano: Beneath Vesuvius

September 18th, 2025

MySide

Photo Essay

Photographer Antonio Balisciano shares his series "Beneath Vesuvius" as a photo essay exploring shared moments of leisure on the shoreline in Naples, Italy.