Moments in the lives of ordinary people are what interest Mike Abrahams. For the Liverpudlian photographer, 72, these are what capture the bigger story of Britain. His career-spanning book This Was Then contains his images from over three decades, including the 1977 Battle of Lewisham and overcrowding at HMP Pentonville. He focuses on “lives that are so often ignored and marginalised”. Asked why he shoots in black-and-white, he once explained: “I grew up in Liverpool in the 1950s and 60s, a city in which to my eyes colour was absent.”
This Was Then (Bluecoat £45) is published on June 6. Four Corners Gallery, London E2, has a one-day exhibition on the same date
Ireland’s 1-0 victory over England at Euro ’88 draws a capacity crowd in west Belfast
MIKE ABRAHAMS
Inmates watch TV on the wing at HMP Pentonville, London, 1983
MIKE ABRAHAMS
In the wake of the 1981 Toxteth riots in Liverpool, protesters call for the dismissal of the city’s chief constable
MIKE ABRAHAMS
Police struggle to control the crowd as racial tension boils over during the “Battle of Lewisham”, 1977
MIKE ABRAHAMS
A boy’s dog takes out its frustrations on a litter bin at the Red Road flats housing scheme in northeast Glasgow, 1990
MIKE ABRAHAMS
Children play in Belfast in 1997 beside a bonfire prepared for the annual Battle of the Boyne celebrations in July
MIKE ABRAHAMS
