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About Side

Documents of Working-Class Life

Side was founded in 1977 by the Amber Film & Photography Collective to showcase documentary photography at a time when it was rarely exhibited. Located on Newcastle’s historic Quayside, the gallery was created out of Amber’s commitment to documenting working-class and marginalised communities. Recognising the need for a dedicated space to present this work, they established Side Gallery, which became at the time the only gallery in the UK focused entirely on documentary photography.

From the beginning, Side Gallery gained a strong reputation for its commitment to socially engaged photography. It became a platform for both UK-based and international photographers, fostering renowned talent such as Chris Killip and Tish Murtha. Over the years, the gallery presented groundbreaking exhibitions, including Survival Programmes by the Exit Photography Group, which documented poverty in 1970s Britain, and Weegee, where Amber and Side presented the first UK tour of the renowned New York photographer's work. It also hosted When the Waters Came, by Shahidul Alam, which showed the reality of the impact of the 1988 floods in Bangladesh, and Bitter Harvest, exploring the working conditions on pre-apartheid South Africa's fruit farms. In 1978, the legendary photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson celebrated his 70th birthday with a retrospective exhibition at Side, reinforcing its status as a leading venue for documentary photography.

Lovers with 3-D glasses at the Palace Theatre (Infra-red), 1943, by Weegee ©International Center of Photography

Alongside the gallery, Amber also established Side Cinema, one of the smallest independent cinemas in the UK. Like the gallery, it was dedicated to socially engaged storytelling, screening independent films, documentaries and international cinema that explored issues of social justice, culture and history. Over the years, it became an intimate space where audiences could experience alternative and thought-provoking films, often in connection with the gallery’s exhibitions. With a focus on community engagement, Side Cinema hosted discussions, Q&As and special screenings, reinforcing Amber’s belief in film as a tool for reflection and debate.

Despite its importance, Side was forced to close its doors on 9 April 2023 due to the loss of its Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation status and the rising cost of energy bills. While the physical space remains closed, efforts are underway to secure its future and reopen our doors. Side Gallery has played a vital role in showcasing powerful visual storytelling for decades, and work continues to ensure its legacy and impact continue.

Give my Regards to Elizabeth, early 1990s ©Peter Bialobrzeski

Past Exhibitions

See below for a full list of exhibitions at Side from 1977 - today. As more work is done on the AmberSide Collection archive details regarding historical exhibitions and projects may be updated. If you require details about any of our past shows contact: [email protected]

Exhibitions: 1977 - 1979

  • Documents of the North East: Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, Graham Smith, James Cleet, Robert Carling

  • Singular Realities: Lewis Ambler, Kurt Benning, John Blakemore, Beverly Bryon, Eric Carpenter, Paul Hill, Isabella Jedrzejscyk, Paul Joyce, Guy Ryecart, Paddy Summerfield, Gail Tandy, Peter Turner

  • New York in the Thirties: Berenice Abbott

  • Imogen Cunningham: Solo Show

  • Chris Killip: Solo Show

  • Ralph Gibson: Solo Show

  • Other Eyes: Group Show

  • British Calendar Customs: Homer Sykes

  • Lewis Hine: Solo Show

  • August Sander: Solo Show

  • Thomas Annan: Solo Show

  • Larry Herman: Solo Show

  • New British Image: Group Show

  • England Past: Humphrey Spender, Bert Hardy, George Rodger, Thurston Hopkins

  • Russian War Photographs: Group Show

  • Northern View: Daniel Meadows, Nick Hedges, Derek Smith, Ken Baird

  • AL Coburn: Solo Show

  • EJ Bellocq: Solo Show

  • Henri Cartier Bresson: Solo Show

  • Photographs from the Beaches: Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, Marketa Luskacova

  • Work & Unemployment: Robert Golden, Nick Hedges

  • The Teds: Chris Steele-Perkins

  • Juvenile Jazz Bands: Tish Murtha [developed as part of Side Gallery MSC scheme]

  • Alexander Rodchenko: Solo Show

  • Alabama 40 Years On: Walker Evans, Peter Cannon

  • Photographs from Peru: Martin Chambi, Edward Ranney

  • Beyond the Fields We Know: David Lyons

  • Northern Survey: Martine Franck

  • John Davies: Solo Show

  • Mike Disfarmer: Solo Show

  • Edwardian Portraits: From a Local Studio

  • A South Shields Photographer: James Cleet

  • The Camera & Dr Barnado

Exhibitions: 1980 - 1989

  • Brassai: Solo Show

  • Isle of Man: Chris Killip

  • Quoits: Ian Macdonald

  • Retrieving the Past: Manchester studies

  • Daily Herald: Photographs from the Thirties: Group Show

  • Observers of Man: Group Show

  • Weegee: Solo Show

  • Andre Kertesz: Solo Show

  • Bill Brandt: Solo Show

  • Pie Town: Russell Lee

  • To Build Jerusalem: Photographs of Labour History: Group Show

  • Building the Tyne Bridge: Dorman Long Collection

  • The Fishing Industry: Nick Hedges

  • Cumbrian Landscapes: John Davies

  • Don McCullin: Solo Show

  • Art of the Tattoo: Chris Wroblewski

  • Scotswood Road: Jimmy Forsyth

  • Latin America: John Cohen, Luke Holland, Manuel Alvarez Bravo

  • The Mauretania

  • North Tyneside: Isabella Jedrzejczyk, Marketa Luskacova, Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, Graham Smith

  • Diane Arbus: Solo Show

  • Youth Unemployment: Tish Murtha

  • American Mining Communities: Russell Lee

  • Robert Doisneau: Solo Show

  • China: Marc Riboud

  • Nicaragua: Susan Meiselas

  • Survival Programmes: In Britain’s Inner Cities: Exit Photography Group (Chris Steele-Perkins, Paul Trevor, Nick Battye)

  • The British Worker: Group Show

  • Images of Women: Group Show

  • Tees Estuary: Ian Macdonald

  • Consett Steel: Graham Smith

  • John Pattison Gibson: Solo Show

  • Early Soviet Photography: Group Show

  • Askam and Skinningrove: Chris Killip

  • Northern Ireland and Telex Iran: Gilles Peress

  • South Africa: Peter Magubane

  • Work & Wit: Documentary Photographs from the Side Collection: Group Show

  • Bert Hardy: Solo Show

  • Beirut and Ethiopia: Chris Steele-Perkins

  • Northumberland Landscapes: Isabella Jedrzejczyk

  • Durham Coalfield: John Davies

  • For Druridge: Isabella Jedrzejczyk, John Davies

  • El Salvador: Work of 30 Photographers curated by Susan Meiselas

  • Chile: Abbas, Raymond Depardon

  • Shipbuilding on the Tyne: Bruce Rae

  • Byker: Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen

  • South Bank: Graham Smith

  • A Vanished World: Roman Vishniac

  • John Heartfield: Solo Show

  • Seacoal: Chris Killip

  • Martin Chambi of Cuzco: Solo Show

  • The New Incas: Paul Yule

  • Why Photography? Why Documentary? Photographs from the Side Collection: Group Show

  • Easington: A Durham Mining Village: Bruce Rae

  • Easington, August 1984: Keith Pattison

  • Workers! Unemployed!: Group Show

  • Step by Step: Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen

  • Josef Koudelka: Solo Show

  • Narita Airport: Takashi Hamaguchi

  • Famine in Africa: Mike Goldwater, Chris Steele-Perkins

  • Pilgrims: Marketa Luskacova

  • Weegee the Famous: Solo Show

  • The Forest: John Kippin

  • Colour from the FSA: Group Show

  • Making the News: Group Show including Keith Pattison, John Sturrock

  • David Goldblatt: Solo Show

  • Home Front: John Reardon & Derek Bishton

  • American Images: Group Show

  • Portraits & Dreams: Wendy Ewald

  • Hard Times: Mark Power

  • In the Company of Women: Jenny Matthews

  • Scotswood Road: Jimmy Forsyth

  • Edgar G Lee: Solo Show

  • Photographs from the People’s Centre North Shields: Group Show

  • Approaches to Documentary: Group Show

  • No Pasaran: The Spanish Civil Wa: Group Show

  • Blast Furnace: Ian Macdonald

  • Ashington: A Coal Mining Town: Mik Critchlow

  • In a Right State: Heartfield, Kennard, Budgett

  • Wills Factory Closure: Isabella Jedrzejczyk

  • From West Cumbria: John Rigby

  • Migrant Labour: Keith Pattison

In June 1988 Side Gallery introduced a series of photo-story commissions, NOW!, with a dedicated exhibition space on the ground floor. Commissions were often for only two weeks work and were concerned with local, national and international current affairs.

MAJOR EXHIBITIONS

  • Let Us Now Praise Famous Women: Women Photographers for the US Govt, 1935 – 1944: Group Show

  • The Cordoned Heart: Group Show showcasing South African photographers

  • Edith Tudor Hart, photographs 1930 – 1952: Solo Show

  • The Lensman: Humphrey Spender

  • Below the Line and Exploding Into Life: Eugene Richards

  • Northern Landscapes: Isabella Jedrzejczyk, John Davies

  • Juchitan: Graciela Iturbide

  • Working the Surface of the Earth, mining photography from around the world: Group Show

  • Robert Doisneau: Solo Show

  • A Christmas Show from Side Photographic Collection: Group Show

NOW! EXHIBITIONS

  • Seafarers: the Ferries Dispute: Mik Critchlow

  • Harambe Africa, photographs from Ethiopia: Group Show

  • Working It Out: Isabella Jedrzejczyk

  • Cedarwood Women: Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen

  • Kampuchea: Pictures from the Killing Fields: Pete Brabban

  • North Blyth: A Sense of Community: Peter Fryer

  • Look Me in the Eye: Richard Grassick

MAJOR EXHIBITIONS

  • Coke to Coke: Peter Fryer

  • Step by Step: Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen

  • Primary Concerns: Marketa Luskacova

  • Steel Works: Julian Germain

  • Bathing Places: Kevin O’Farrell

  • Bitter Harvest: David Lurie

  • Ten Days in Tiananmen: Bob Gannon

NOW! EXHIBITIONS

  • Every Breath They Take: Keith Pattison

  • Scotswood to Kurdistan: Mark Pinder

  • Do Not Pass Go: Steve Conlan

  • Haiti: Gilles Peress

  • When the Waters Came: Shahidul Alam

  • Mixtepeco: Eniac Martinez

  • Let Go: Peter Fryer

SIDESHOWS: TOURING EXHIBITIONS AROUND NORTHUMBERLAND & TYNESIDE

  • Building the Tyne Bridge

  • Weegee: Solo Show

  • Look Me in the Eye: Richard Grassick

  • Ashington: Mik Critchlow

  • Shipbuilding on the Tyne: Bruce Rae

  • Scotswood Road: Jimmy Forsyth

Exhibitions: 1990 - 1995

From the end of the 1980s Amber had been working on developing community-based photographer-activists, who would tour work in their areas and generate new production. For a short while in 1991, Side Gallery was closed, then re-opened in 1992 as an augmented touring venue which supported the photographer-activist model.

MAJOR EXHIBITIONS

  • Reindeer People: The Saami of Lapland: Jorma Puranen, Marja Vuorelainen, Matti Saanio

  • Sovinec: Jindrich Streit

  • Days of Steel, photographs from the Firth Brown Archive

  • Life in the Liberated Zone: David Lurie

  • Nicaragua: Susan Meiselas

  • Gilles Peress: Northern Ireland, Iran, Homeless Americans and Haiti: Solo Show

  • The Untrained Eye: Jimmy Forsyth, Albert Smith, Laurie Wheatley, Mary Gillens

  • Juchitan: Graciela Iturbide

  • Jungle Portraits: Isabella Jedrzejczyk

NOW! EXHIBITIONS

  • Hartlepool Women – Working for Change?: Hartlepool Women’s Group

  • Glimpses of Change in the East: Mark Power, Paul Lowe, Ivo Gill, Lubomir Stiburek

  • Poll Tax Exhibition: Steve Conlan

  • Nicaragua Libre: Mik Critchlow

SIDESHOWS: TOURING EXHIBITIONS AROUND NORTHUMBERLAND & TYNESIDE

  • Nicaragua: Antonio Turok

  • Edgar G Lee: Solo Show

  • Below the Line: Eugene Richards

  • Seacoal: Chris Killip

  • Let Go: Peter Fryer

  • South Africa: David Goldblatt

  • Cumbrian Landscapes: John Davies

MAJOR EXHIBITIONS

  • The Writing in the Sand: Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen

  • Robert Doisneau: Solo Show

  • Meadow Well: An English Estate: Steve Conlan

  • American Mining Communities: Russell Lee

SIDESHOWS: TOURING EXHIBITIONS AROUND TYNESIDE, NORTHUMBERLAND & COUNTY DURHAM

  • American Mining Communities: Russell Lee

  • Consett News Pictures: Tommy Harris

  • The Writing in the Sand: Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen

  • Reindeer People: Marja Vuorelainen

  • Jungle Portraits: Isabella Jedrzejczyk

  • Juchitan: Graciela Iturbide

  • Mauretania: Group Show

  • The Untrained Eye: Albert Smith

  • Working the Landscape: George Dodsworth, Pete Maddison, Richard Grassick & Jane Greenwell

  • Weegee’s People: Weegee

  • Wheatley Hill: Mary Gillens

  • Let Go: Peter Fryer

  • Below the Line: Eugene Richards

  • Easington: A Mining Village: Bruce Rae

MAJOR EXHIBITIONS

  • Images from the Side Collection: Group Show

SIDESHOWS: TOURING EXHIBITIONS AROUND TYNESIDE, NORTHUMBERLAND & COUNTY DURHAM

  • Dream On: Steve Conlan, Richard Grassick and Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen

  • Belmont Group Day Out: Graciela Iturbide

  • Daily Herald: Group Show including James Jarche

  • Changes in the East: Paul Lowe, Mark Power, Lubomir Stiburek

  • Portraits & Dreams: Wendy Ewald

  • Photographs from the Vickers Archive

  • Working the Landscape: George Dodsworth, Pete Maddison, Richard Grassick & Jane Greenwell

  • The Unrecognised Villages: Peter Fryer

  • Step by Step: Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen

  • Consett News: Pictures Tommy Harris

  • Juchitan: Graciela Iturbide

  • Building the Tyne Bridge

  • Ramar Goodbye: Richard Grassick

  • Reindeer People: Marja Vuorelainen

  • The Mauretania

MAJOR EXHIBITIONS

  • Side Collection Show: Group Show

  • South African: Health David Lurie

  • The Russians: Dana Kyndrova

  • Shipbuilding on the Tyne: Bruce Rae

  • My Finnish Roots: Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen

SIDESHOW: TOURING EXHIBITIONS AROUND TYNESIDE, NORTHUMBERLAND & COUNTY DURHAM

  • Ramar Goodbye: Richard Grassick

  • South African Health: David Lurie

  • Quayside: Graham Smith, Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen

  • The Russians: Dana Kyndrova

  • Mothers’ Day Out: Grace Robertson

  • Wheatley Hill: Mary Gillens

  • Peaceable Kingdoms: Peter Fryer

  • My Finnish Roots: Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen

  • Eastgate Cement Works: Dave Thomas

  • The Unrecognised Villages: Peter Fryer

  • Keep the Banner Flying: Group Show

  • Portraits & Dreams: Wendy Ewald

  • Nowhere Called Home: Peter Bialobrzeski

  • Daily Herald: Group Show including James Jarche

  • Paris Streets: Robert Doisneau

  • The Writing in the Sand: Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen

MAJOR EXHIBITIONS

  • Give My Regards to Elizabeth: Peter Bialobrzeski

  • Ramshackles: Dave Thomas

  • Guns & Butter John Heartfield

  • From the Centre: Nick Hedges

  • Juchitan: Graciela Iturbide

  • Unclear Family: from the Crook International Photography Workshop: Dana Kyndrova, Dayanita Singh, Jindrich Streit, Michelle Johnson, Mik Critchlow, Miriam Reik, Peter Bialobrzeski, Richard Cross, Richard Grassick, Stefan Dolfen, Steve Conlan, Tim Curtis and Veronique Lesperat-Hequet

  • Letters from Ernestine K: Stefan Dolfen

SIDESHOWS: TOURING EXHIBITIONS AROUND TYNESIDE, NORTHUMBERLAND & COUNTY DURHAM

  • Ramshackles: Dave Thomas

  • Guns & Butter: John Heartfield

  • Tees Estuary: Ian Macdonald

  • Keep the Banner Flying: Group Show

  • Nowhere Called Home: Peter Bialobrzeski

  • Images of Youth in Cumbria: John Rigby

  • Martin Chambi of Cuzco: Solo Show

  • Seafarers: Mik Critchlow

  • A Little Piece of Land: Richard Grassick

  • The Russians: Dana Kyndrova

  • From the Family Album: Stefan Dolfen

  • My Finnish Roots: Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen

  • Can I Say Shalom: Miriam Reik

  • Sovinec: Jindrich Streit

  • Italians: Anna Arnone

  • Meadow Well: Steve Conlan

SIDESHOWS: TOURING EXHIBITIONS AROUND TYNESIDE, NORTHUMBERLAND & COUNTY DURHAM

  • Unremembered Lives: North East Communities and the Documentary Photographer: Side Retrospective Group Show

  • Byker: Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen

  • Youth Unemployment: Tish Murtha

  • Scotswood Road: Jimmy Forsyth

  • Consett: Graham Smith

  • Steel Works: Julian Germain

  • Seacoal: Chris Killip

  • North Shields: Graham Smith, Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, Peter Fryer, Steve Conlan and Isabella Jedrzejczyk

  • Wallsend: Graham Smith, Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, Chris Killip and Bruce Rae

  • Easington: A Mining Village: Bruce Rae

  • Easington, August 1984: Keith Pattison

  • South Bank: Graham Smith

1996 - 1998

Side Gallery’s touring policy came to an end with Unremembered Lives in 1995. Between 1996 and 1999 Side Gallery continued presenting exhibitions on an increasingly limited budget. Some new work, such as Dean Chapman’s Karenni and Sebastiao Salgado’s Workers was shown, but the minor programme drew mostly on the resources of the AmberSide Collection.

In 1998 a group was set up to look at the future of the gallery. It brought together Amber members Murray Martin, Richard Grassick and Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen with photographers Peter Fryer and Dean Chapman and writer Graeme Rigby. This led to the regeneration of Side Gallery and photographic production in 1999.

Exhibitions: 1999 - 2009

  • Quayside: Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, Graham Smith

  • For most of it I have no words: Simon Norfolk

  • This Man’s Army: Martin Figura

  • An Interrupted Journey: Giovanni Diffidenti

  • Ten Days in Tiananmen Square: Bob Gannon

  • La Realidad: Mara Catalan

  • Panos Pictures: Martin Adler, Piers Benatar, Tim Hetherington, Fernando Moleres, Shehzad Noorani, Karen Robinson, Andrew Testa and Hamish Wilson

  • Writing in the Sand: Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen

  • Dream Series: Martin Weber

  • Notes from Afghanistan: Chris Steele-Perkins

  • Shifting Ground: Dean Chapman

  • Weegee Reviewed: Weegee

  • Fathers: Peter Fryer, text by Graeme Rigby (Coalfield Stories commission)

  • Yearning for the Sea: John C Tordai

  • In the Shadow of Foot and Mouth: Richard Grassick, text by Graeme Rigby

  • Struggling to Share the Promised Land: David Lurie

  • Horden Victory Club: Martin Figura

  • Building the Tyne Bridge

  • Darkness in the Golden Land: Humanity and Inhumanity in the State of Burma: Dean Chapman

  • First Sight: Children’s Photographs from Vietnam, Bangladesh, Nepal, Palestine & Lebanon, Kenya, Brazil and Guatemala: Group Show

  • Primary: Clement Cooper

  • Between the Lines: George Georgiou

  • A Broken Landscape: Gideon Mendel

  • Amber: Photography & Film: Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, Graham Smith, Mik Critchlow, Martine Franck, Chris Killip, Peter Fryer and Steve Conlon

  • Afghanistan: Chronotopia: Simon Norfolk

  • Everybody Sai Sai: Dieter Telemans

  • Coalfield Stories: Dean Chapman, John Davies, Martin Figura, Peter Fryer, Richard Grassick, Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, Sally-Ann Norman, Keth Pattison, Bruce Rae, Chris Steele-Perkins

  • A Cuban Retrospective: Raul Caņibano.

  • Juchitan: Graciela Iturbide

  • Roma: Karen Robinson

  • Soviets: Shepard Sherbell

  • Women and War: Jenny Matthews

  • Farewell Squalor: Sally-Ann Norman

  • Nenets: Heidi Bradner

  • Cold War Pastoral: John Kippin

  • Cape Town Fringe: Manenberg Avenue is where it’s happening: David Lurie

  • Below the Line: Eugene Richards

  • Homeless Americans: Gilles Peress

  • Spitting Windward: Manuel Sendón

  • Post Industrial: Richard Grassick

  • Mosquito Coast: Sophia Evans

  • The Village is a Global World: Jindrich Streit

  • Into the Asylum: Howard Davies

  • Agent Orange: Philip Jones Griffiths

  • Making the News: Group Show including Keith Pattison, John Sturrock

  • Signs of Coal: John Davies

  • A Decade of War in Chechnya: Heidi Bradner

  • The Lost Boys: Portraits of Russian Soldiers: Heidi Bradner

  • Shifting Ground: Dean Chapman

  • Goaf: Landscapes from the Durham Coalfield: Simon Norfolk

  • Scars: Paul Lowe

  • River: Documenting the Tyne: Group Show

  • Coastal: Documenting the North East Coast: Group Show

  • The Last Days: Aidan Doyle

  • Child Labour: Fernando Moleres

  • Lewis Hine: Solo Show

  • All Dressed Up: Teenage Girls & Young Women in East Durham: Karen Robinson

  • Portraits and Dreams: Wendy Ewald

  • El Salvador – Work of Thirty Photographers: Group Show curated by Susan Meiselas

  • Hinterland / Northern Exoposures: Chris Steele-Perkins

  • Camping in Gaza: Laura Junka

  • Looking Towards Palestine: A Photography Projection: Group Show

  • Martin Chambi: Solo Show

  • Peru: John Cohen

  • The Time of Her Life: Lesley McIntyre

  • Land of Beautiful Horses: Ritva Kovalainen

  • Survival Programmes: In Britain’s Inner Cities: Exit Photography Group (Nicholas Battye, Chris Steele Perkins, Paul Trevor)

  • Gdansk Suburbia: Jerzy Wierzbicki

  • Roots of the Runtur: Rob Hornstra

  • The Arab Boarding House: Peter Fryer

  • The Preacher & His Congregation: James Perry Walker

  • Why Documentary? 30 Years of Side Gallery: Group Show

  • Congo: The Rape of a Nation: Marcus Bleasdale

  • GO! Internal Migration in China: Rhodri Jones

  • The Roma Journeys: Joakim Eskildsen

  • Horse Nation: Dean Chapman

  • Appleby Horse Fair: Dave Thomas

  • For Murray: Group Show

  • Bangladesh 1971: Photographs from the War of Independence: Drik Photo library

  • The Weegee Portfolio: Weegee

  • Telex Iran: Gilles Peress

  • Sisters in Chanel & Chador: Newsha Tavakolian

  • Recollections: Philip Jones Griffiths

  • Robert Doisneau: Solo Show

  • A Woman’s Eye: Women Photographing Women: Group Show

  • Homeland: Nina Berman

  • Marine Wedding: Nina Berman

  • Byker Revisited: Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen

  • City State: John Davies

  • Black Sea: Vanessa Winship

  • Sweet Nothings: Vanessa Winship

Exhibitions 2010 - 2014

  • Women in Prison: Jane Evelyn Atwood

  • Long Story Bit by Bit: Liberia Retold: Tim Hetherington.

  • Fault Lines: Turkey East/West: George Georgiou

  • Stateside: American Documentary from the Side Photographic Collection: Group Show

  • Don’t Call Me Urban! The Time of Grime: Simon Wheatley

  • Love Me: Zed Nelson

  • Lodz Ghetto Album: Henryk Ross

  • A Luta Continua: Protest Photography from the Side Photographic Collection: Group Show

  • Kanaval: Leah Gordon

  • Fields of Vision: Landscapes from the Side Photographic Collection: Group Show

  • August Sander: Solo Show

  • John Heartfield: Solo Show

  • Burke + Norfolk: Simon Norfolk and John Burke

  • Pentti Sammallahti: Solo Show curated by Dean Chapman

  • Arab Spring: Egypt & Libya: Guy Martin, Ivor Prickett

  • The National Womb: Baby Boom in Nagorno Karabakh: Anastasia Taylor-Lind

  • Veiled Rebellion: Lynsey Addario

  • Martine Franck & Henri Cartier Bresson: Group Show

  • The Photobus Project: Daniel Meadows

  • Tsunami: Archaeology of a Disaster: Dean Chapman

  • Welcome Aboard: Patrice Terraz

  • True/Grit: Representation and the North: Group Show

  • Street Life Instantaneous: Edgar Lee

  • We Are All Brothers Here: Paul Alexander Knox

  • Stay Where There Are Songs: Ciara Leeming

  • All That Falls: Mark Power, Paul Lowe, Jindrich Streit, Dana Kyndrova,

  • Urban Dreams / City State: John Davies

  • LEGACY: Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, & The Caucasus: George Georgiou, Lucia Ganieva, Mila Teshaieva, Rafal Milach, Justyna Mielnikiewicz, Donald Weber, Olga Kravets, Maria Morina, Oksana Yushko, Alexander Chekmenev. Curated by George Georgiou

  • War Work: Photographs from the Vickers Archive

  • Reflections on Hiroshima: Hiromi Tsuschida

  • Confrontier: Kai Wiedenhöfer

2015 - 2016

From the end of December 2014 to October 2016, Side was closed for redevelopment funded by Heritage Lottery and Arts Council England. Whilst the gallery was closed, in 2015, For Ever Amber, a major retrospective of the AmberSide Collection was developed for and exhibited at Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne.

  • Childhoods: Wendy Ewald, Tish Murtha, Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, Chris Killip, Lesley McIntyre, Dean Chapman, Duco Tellegen, Karen Robinson, Julian Germain, James Mollison, Kai Wiedenhöfer, Liz Hingley

  • Home – photographs by young people at risk of homelessness: AmberEducation

Exhibitions 2017 - 2020

  • Detroit Unbroken: Dave Jordano.

  • The Prospect of Immortality: Murray Ballard
    Under Gods: Liz Hingley

  • The Coal Coast / Song for Billy: Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen and Amber Films

  • Shipbuilding on the Tyne / The Art of Shipbuilding: Bruce Rae and Amber Films

  • A Choice of Weapons: Gordon Parks

  • You, Me and Autism: Colin Potsig

  • We Are the Legionnaires: Carville Primary School and ex-members of the Rising Sun Legionnaires juvenile jazz band - an Amber Education project

  • The Tailors of Port-au-Prince: Leah Gordon

  • Rock Against Racism: Syd Shelton

  • Looking for Lenin: Neils Ackermann.

  • The Winners: Rafal Milach.

  • Suturing the City: Sammy Baloji & Filip De Boeck.

  • About the North: Imagined Dialogues: Ian Berry, Peter Bialobrzeski, Bill Brandt, Tessa Bunney, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Dean Chapman, Mik Critchlow, Alex Currie, John Davies, Martine Franck, Peter Fryer, Julian Germain, Ken Grant, Richard Grassick, Nick Hedges, Chris Killip, Isabella Jedrzejczyk, Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, Ian Macdoland, Daniel Meadows, Tish Murtha, Simon Norfolk, Martin Parr, Keith Pattison, Bruce Rae, Simon Roberts, Ja`mes Sebright, Graham Smith, Chris Steele-Perkins, Jindrich Streit, Paul Trevor, Vanessa Winship, Tom Wood.

  • The Inner Eye: Aspects of Documentary Photography in the GDR: Arno Fischer, Roger Melis, Ute Mahler, Gerd Danigel, Harf Zimmermann, Sibylle Bergemann, Harald Hauswald, Eva Mahn, Ulrich Wüst, Kurt Buchwald, Matthias Leupold, Gundula Schulze Eldowy, Werner Mahler.

  • Photographs of Tyneside: Harry Morrison

  • Blast Beach: Roger Coulam

  • Photographs by T Dan Smith: Solo Show

  • The Inner Eye: Aspects of Documentary Photography in the GDR: Group Show

  • Small Town Inertia: J A Mortram

  • Forest: Yan Wang Preston

  • Ex-Voto: Alys Tomlinson

  • Work & Workers: Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Nicholas Battye, Martin Chambi, Dean Chapman, Mik Critchlow, John Davies, Aidan Doyle, Walker Evans, Peter Fryer, Julian Germain, Richard Grassick, John Harris, Tommy Harris, Nick Hedges, Larry Herman, Lewis Hine, James Jarche, Izabela Jedrzejczyk, Chris Killip, John Kippin, Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, Russell Lee, David Lurie, Daniel Meadows, Harry Morrison, Tish Murtha, Simon Norfolk, William Parry, Keith Pattison, Bruce Rae, Marc Riboud, James Sebright, Graham Smith, Humphrey Spender, Chris Steele-Perkins, John Sturrock, Laszlo Torday, Paul Trevor, Marja Vuorelainen, Weegee. Ashington Coal Company, Building the Tyne Bridge (Dorman Long), Tynemouth North Pier, Vickers-Armstrong Archive, Wills Archive (John Maltby).

  • End of the Caliphate: Ivor Prickett

  • Hard Times: Group Show

  • Portrait of an Invisible Illness II: Juliet Chenery-Robson

  • Jason & Victoria : Disability And Partnership: Josefin Bengtsson

  • Work & Workers: Group Show

  • Seeking Shelter: Ivor Prickett

  • Waiting for Winter: Rena Effendi

  • Otherwise Unseen: Tessa Bunney

  • Extraordinary Women: Tom Stoddart

  • Family, Food and Community: The Pennywell Project: Amber Education project

  • Shipbuilding on the Tyne: Carville Primary School, Amber Education project

2020 saw the UK enter lockdown due to the Covid 19 Pandemic. Side closed its doors in line with Government guidelines, however during this time we were able to focus on online programming with a series of digital talks and online film screenings for our community.

Exhibitions 2021 - 2023

  • Extraordinary Women: Tom Stoddart

  • Youth Rising: UK 1981 - 2021: Group show including Chris Killip, Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, Alys Tomlinson, Maryam Wahid, Sadie Catt, Tom Sussex, Christopher Nunn, Paul Alexander Knox, Vanessa Winship

  • Citizens of Our Time: Gary Calton, Izabela Jedrzejczyk, Amber Films

  • Classic Street Style: Weegee, Robert Doisneau, Jimmy Forsyth

  • Matriarchy: Graciela Iturbide, Anne Helene Gjelstad

  • Eruptions: Poulomi Basu

  • A Wounded Landscape: Marc Wilson

In April 2023, the collective lost Arts Council revenue funding, leading to a significant shift in its business model.

Despite these setbacks, the public rallied behind Side, launching a #SaveSide Crowd funder campaign, raising £67,000 in just 12 days, highlighting the gallery’s cultural importance. The outpouring of support reinforced the community’s deep connection to our work.

The Future

We are actively assessing options for reopening Side while also exploring new models, such as pop-up exhibitions and digital storytelling. Despite funding uncertainties, Side remains committed to its mission, ensuring that the voices, struggles, and stories of working-class communities continue to be preserved, shared, and celebrated.  

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