Retrospective: Adventure Playground

As a child I remember playing for many hours on building sites. One of these sites sat snugly behind a local pub. There were many signs erected telling parents to keep children off the site; as we were playing on the site for many years before it became a ‘building site’ we felt we had every right to play on it during the construction period.

Four boys in empty terraced house. Toxteth, Liverpool 1980

The boys in this photograph appeared from nowhere and posed for this shot. It was later used for an article on inner city housing and was the poster image for my photomonth exhibition ‘As It Is’ in 1998.

Boy on Bicycle. Liverpool 1979

My childhood memories are festooned with bicycle memories. I lived in a small terraced house with my parents and 5 sisters. My bicycle was my escape into the world. I still recall the sheer joy of free wheeling onto the pavement outside my house, turning left and then right to cross the road for a 20 minute journey to Cardinal Wiseman boys school in ‘Potters Green’. I got my bike as a Christmas present in 1964; it was my pride and joy and vehicle to freedom.

The Liverpool 8 Defence Committee prepares to March, Liverpool 1982

Events leading to the riots in Liverpool 30 years ago were echoed again this year in Brixton. The tactics of the police in Brixton and Liverpool 30 years ago were heavily criticised in the ‘Scarman’ report. The demonstrators (above) were calling for the resignation of the Chief Constable Mr Ken Oxford.

These exhibition Lambda C Type images are printed on paper measuring 59cm x 59cm and mounted on 5mm foam board. As exhibition single prints they are for sale at £200 (with a certificate of authentication signed by the photographer). For purchase please contact Rossana at mercaditoproductions@hotmail.com

An intriguing tranquility for this toddler who blockades the entrance to a shop in Lodge Lane, Liverpool 1982