A Hard Man Is Good To Find! is a great new exhibition on at The Photographers Gallery, London, documenting queer male photography in London during the twentieth century. Such photography doesn’t actually exist in the public realm in great quantities, partly because it was illegal under the Obscene Publications Act 1857, and also because prior to the 1990s, the UK had quite a homophobic environment. Nevertheless, a surprisingly large and varied collection of images have been curated for this exhibition.

The show is split into different geographical areas of London, each of which had a slightly different character, lending themselves to different types of man and images. We start in the bedsit land of Pimlico. In the 1950s this was home to many single young queer men as well as soldiers living in the two nearby army barracks. We see pictures of many of the young fit soldiers who liked being photographed to earn a little extra money.

 

We then move on to Hampstead Heath the famous cruising area and home to the men-only Highgate Men’s Swimming Pond. A good collection of sunbathing men from the 1930s is included here. Other areas of London shown include a selection of 1950s male physique photography shot in Marylebone and in Hyde Park and ‘The Portobello Boys,’ an interesting selection of men shot at home in Notting Hill and Portobello in the 1960s. This area of West London was very queer back then.

Then we head south of the river to Battersea and Brixton where pictures range from 1960s fairground and other workers through to queer artists and activists in the 70s and 80s.

A fabulous guided tour of queer old London.

A Hard Man is Good to Find!
A bold new exhibition charting over 60 years of queer photography of the male 
physique.
Fri 03 Mar 2023 - Sun 11 Jun 2023
The Photographers Gallery, Ramilies Street, London W1 

 

 

Queerguru’s Contributing Editor Ris Fatah is a successful fashion/luxury business consultant  (when he can be bothered) who divides and wastes his time between London and Ibiza. He is a lover of all things queer, feminist, and human rights in general. @ris.fatah