Local photographers have been creating work across Bristol’s high streets, working with the communities and businesses there to produce images that tell the stories of these unique places. These photos are now part of the Historic England Archive, along with other images chosen to document English high streets’ links to social history as we know it.
Since September 2022, people across England have been responding to an online national call out to submit their photographs of the high street on Instagram under the hashtag #PicturingHighStreets. Picturing High Streets has been a partnership between Historic England and Photoworks, helping to build a contemporary picture of England’s high streets through mass public participation and community engagement. It has revealed how important the high street can be as a space for people to come together and connect.
Now, these 204 winning photographs have entered the Historic England Archive – the nation’s archive for England’s historic buildings, archaeology and social history – alongside 173 new images taken as part of local projects with resident artists on high streets.
In the south west, these new images include 25 pictures of Bristol taken by local photographers in collaboration with communities across the city in a subproject called DREAMLINES.
These photographers were commissioned by Bristol Photo Festival to co-create work across Bristol’s historic high streets, working with local communities and businesses there to produce images that tell the stories of these unique places
“Through Picturing Bristol, Bristol Photo Festival worked with over 20 community groups and 14 artists across the city, collectively building a contemporary portrait of Bristol’s high streets as living cultural spaces at the heart of every community,” says Alejandro Acin, director of Bristol Photo Festival. “We’re proud that those images can now be explored and enjoyed as part of a new national collection in Historic England’s Archive.”
DREAMLINES: Picturing Bristol High Streets was jointly funded by Historic England and Bristol City Council and was part of the West of England Combined Authority’s Love our High Streets initiative. The Picturing High Streets call out and exhibition marks the final year of Historic England’s High Streets Cultural Programme and the £95 million High Streets Heritage Action Zones Programme, which has been revitalising more than 60 high streets across England.
Explore all the images on the Historic England Archive at historicengland.co.uk
