Jarrow 1978: A town through the lens

In 1978 Vince Rea embarked on a major project, to produce a photographic record of Jarrow and its people. Vince’s year-long endeavour resulted in some 5,000 negatives. This exhibition offers a selection of his work. His pictures put people and their environment before us with striking immediacy, and are also invaluable as a social record of the time.

Vince Rea (b. 1936) was the driving force behind the Bede Gallery, housed in a former nuclear bunker in Jarrow’s Springwell Park. As Director of the gallery, Vince staged an impressive array of exhibitions showcasing the best of British and international modern art. But Vince also had a passion for the social and industrial history of Jarrow, which led him to present a number of important historical exhibitions and, in the process, to build up a unique collection of archives and artefacts, many of which are now in the care of Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums. This exhibition is the first of a series highlighting key aspects from that collection.