Picturing High Streets
A 3-year project that recorded the stories and communities behind England's shopfronts to create a contemporary collection of high street photographs.
Creating a contemporary record of high streets
Picturing High Streets involved artists and the public in capturing photos of high streets, bringing the viewpoints of different communities across England to the Historic England Archive.
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Picturing High Streets Through the Eyes of the PublicHow the Picturing High Streets 3-year project involved the public in creating a contemporary record of England’s high streets.
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The Picturing High Streets Collection
A national collection of photographs documenting England’s high streets, taken by artists and members of the public in the early 2020s.
#PicturingHighStreets on Instagram
Through themed fortnightly challenges on Instagram, @PicturingHighStreets invited the public to submit their photos of high streets across 31 themes and some specific locations.
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Ghost Signs Competition
Over Halloween 2023, a national competition challenged the public to submit photos of ghost signs to be entered in the Historic England Archive.
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Bus Stop Stories
Clear Channel and Photoworks partnered with us on a national call-out to celebrate the humble bus shelter as part of Picturing High Streets.
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Picturing Bradford
Photographs shared by the public, telling the stories behind Bradford’s shopfronts, were exhibited and added to the Historic England Archive.
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Picturing Norwich
We invited people to share their photographs of Norwich’s high streets for a chance to win a place in a major exhibition at The Forum, Norwich.
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Picturing Walsall
Winning images selected from over 400 entries to Historic England’s Picturing Walsall competition were displayed at the New Art Gallery Walsall.
Photographer residencies
Nine photographers in residence at 6 high street locations across England worked with their local communities to co-create photographs of how the high street is used and who it is used by.
Bristol Photo Festival 2023
Bristol Photo Festival commissioned photographers and organised events for Dreamlines: Picturing Bristol High Streets.
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Picturing Bristol High Streets
Bristol photographers worked with local communities to document historic high streets and exhibited their images in September 2023 for Bristol Photo Festival.
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