Peter Mitchell (b.1943, UK) is widely regarded as one of the most important early colour photographers of the 1970s and 80s. A powerful storyteller and social historian, Mitchell’s photography unfolds a longstanding and poetic connection with Leeds. He has chronicled the people and places, and the demolition and development of the city with warmth and familiarity for over 40 years.
Mitchell has been described as ‘a narrator of who we were, a chaser of a disappearing world’. From an alien's view of England, to demolished flats, proud shopkeepers and landlords, back-streets and eerie scarecrows, his photographs reveal his love, and at times, off-beat vision, of the people and changing face of the city.
Calling himself 'a man of the pavement', Mitchell continues to regularly walk the streets of Leeds to photograph his beloved hometown today.
For me, photography is all about coincidences.
- Peter Mitchell
‘How many Aunties’, Back Hares Mount, Leeds, 1978
The exhibition will include rarely seen works from Mitchell’s own collection, personal ephemera and found objects.
About Peter Mitchell
Peter Mitchell was born in Manchester in 1943. He studied at Hornsey College of Art in London, then moved north to look for work and never left. Living and working in Leeds for much of his life, Mitchell treats his surrounding with a unique sense of care. An essential part of the colour documentary scene in the 1970s and ‘80s, Mitchell’s landmark show A New Refutation of the Space Viking 4 Mission at Impressions Gallery in York in 1979 was the first colour photography show at a British photography gallery by a British photographer.
Visit Peter Mitchell's website here.
In collaboration with Leeds Art Gallery.
