Snapped 1990 | 2020

2020 marked the 30th birthday of Half Moon Young People’s Theatre. As part of a series of activities to celebrate this milestone, some of Half Moon’s young people took part in a photography project to explore the changes in the landscape of Tower Hamlets over 30 years. The result is Snapped 1990 | 2020, an exhibition of photographs taken in 1990 alongside images taken at the same locations, 30 years later, in 2020. But, as it turned out, the exhibition is much more than that.

During February 2020, a series of research sessions took place at Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives to identify photographs taken in 1990 by local residents and professional photographers that would reveal the area’s transformation. What had changed in the local area since the young people’s company was established in 1990 and what had stayed the same?

In March 2020, the first COVID-19 lockdown was looming and the on-location photo shoots around the borough had to happen quickly, or we would be forced to abandon the project altogether.

Some of our final activities, before the lockdown was officially announced, were sessions where young people accompanied Emma Brown, the photographer who had taught them about camera technique and composition, to the now deserted streets of Tower Hamlets. What had been intended as a celebration of the evolution of a cosmopolitan, thriving borough was now a poignant reminder of how precious life is, capturing a very particular moment in the history of the world. We hope you enjoy the exhibition and exploring 30 years of local history.

You can find more information about the young people researching and creating the Snapped 1990 | 2020 project on the dedicated page on our Stages of Half Moon digital archive.