Photographs made in Lewisham, London, 1977

A work in progress.

In 1977 John Goto made these photographs in Lewisham, London, since when the negatives have lain dormant in a box. In collaboration with Autograph ABP he is presently reworking the series into book form and possibly an exhibition. As a first stage in this exploratory process the academic journal Small Axe (Columbia University) will shortly publish a portfolio.

As a young artist Goto taught evening classes in photography and film for two years at Lewisham Youth Centre, where these portraits were made. The unselfconscious engagement of the subjects before the camera might in part be explained by their familiarity with the photographer, who was not much older than the sitters.

The series is entitled Lovers Rock after a musical sub-genre which grew out of the South London reggae scene in the mid ’seventies. Louisa Mark cut the first Lovers Rock hit with ‘Caught You In A Lie’, a song which laments the eternal conflicts of young love.

1977 was also the year of the Battle of Lewisham, an encounter in which anti-fascist groups attempted to stop a National Front march from New Cross to Lewisham. As a trace of the era these photographs offer another perspective to such histories, or His-stories maybe? They seem to speak of a different order, other encounters, Her-story possibly? There is much yet to discover about these latent images.