In 1987, Margaret Thatcher said, “There’s no such thing as society”. The photographs displayed at the ‘No Such Thing as Society’ photography exhibition displayed a range of different social classes, from the upper class at ascot to the lower class in DHSS waiting rooms seeking their benefits. The photographs were very powerful and effective, they showed scenes of racism in the 1970’s and poverty amongst youth in the 1980’s. It was very clear to tell what social class the people in the pictures were from, in one photograph there are a group of boys with dirt all over their clothes and faces sitting on a pile of rubble in a housing estate. This photograph shows perfectly what the lower class were going through in those times, it is very effective at encouraging emotion in the viewer. In complete contrast to this there is a photograph showing the upper class having strawberries and cream in a girl’s school, the people from the photograph are dressed in suits and dresses and the school children have very smart uniforms on. These photographs prove to be very stereotypical of social classes, showing the upper class at their best and the lower class at their very worst.
There is a mixture of black and white photographs and colour photographs, each making a different impact. The black and white photographs are more like an illusion, people see everyday life in colour so to see a photograph in black and white makes people really stop and think about the photograph. Black and white also makes things seem more eerie and sometimes creates a dystopian view of a scene, just like the photograph of Newport docks in 1977. The black and white definitely makes it seem more desolate and almost surreal. Some of the pictures at the exhibition have no people in them, and this makes a different impact. The absence of people can mean that people interpret the scene in different ways because there is no specific incident to focus upon. ‘Jubilee Street Party, Elland, 1977’ by Martin Parr is a perfect example of this. The photograph is of a street party for the Queens silver jubilee. There are three long tables filled with food and in the very centre of the picture is a three-tier cake, yet it is completely depopulated. The picture was taken in urban Yorkshire and it is pouring with rain. The signs of national celebration have become debris, and the black and white setting that makes the picture more upsetting makes this more effective. This photograph was the one that stood out the most for me, simply because of the horrible beauty of the scene. There is a certain beauty about a street laid out for a celebration that is going to waste because of the pouring rain. The party is between houses and a factory which suggests that the lower class were holding this party, it is easy to read a picture and tell what social class the people are from or even what social class lives in a certain area. This can also be put to use in everyday life. Whilst walking through town it is easy to split the nation into social classes. People in suits are the white collar workers that have a slightly higher status in society than the builder in his bright yellow workman’s jacket. In recent years an “underclass” has been formed and words like “chavs” and “yobs” have been used to describe them. These are the young people that go around on bikes causing trouble and being as loud and as disruptive as they can. Just like the photographs at the exhibition, society is still grouped into social classes and it is very clear to see.
