Handsworth’s history comes into focus at Birmingham gallery

History Desk 2026-10-23 12:48 2 min read

A string quartet performs music within the modern, white-walled Handsworth Stories gallery in Birmingham.

Trevor Mathison and Derek Bishton visited Handsworth Stories at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery on 22 October, bringing two strands of the area’s cultural record together. Mathison designed the sound for Handsworth Songs; Bishton was one of the photographers behind the Handsworth Self-Portrait project.

Two artists behind Handsworth’s record

Mathison was a founding member of the Black Audio Film Collective, which made John Akomfrah’s Handsworth Songs. The film combines documentary footage, archival material, interviews and music to explore race, identity and civil unrest in Handsworth, Birmingham and London in 1985.

Bishton worked on Handsworth Self-Portrait in 1979. The photography project gave residents a way to tell their own stories and is regarded as a landmark in British photography and social history. Bishton is the only surviving member of the project team, which also included Brian Homer and John Reardon.

Handsworth Stories brings the work together

During their visit, the artists explored the gallery and met its curator and members of the Birmingham Museums Trust team. Bishton said seeing the photographs alongside Handsworth Songs brought questions of representation and identity into view. Mathison said the film’s concerns still resonate, four decades after the events it addressed.

The visit came as Birmingham marked 40 years since Handsworth Songs premiered at the Birmingham Film and Television Festival on 24 October 1986. It was part of a wider anniversary programme that included a workshop and discussion at Birmingham City University’s School of Art and a screening with a Q&A at Mockingbird Cinema.

Bishton is also working with Dewi Lewis Publishing on a limited hardback edition of photographs from Handsworth Self-Portrait. The source says its Kickstarter campaign closes on 3 November.

Source: Birmingham Museums Trust Stories

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This report follows Birmingham Museums Trust’s account of the visit, the works discussed and the anniversary programme.

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