New zines! - Protest in Glasgow Southside

Coming soon - My next two zines are in production! Both will feature historic community protests from the Southside of Glasgow. The first zine, no. 11 in my series of zines looking at stories from my photography archive, will be ‘Save Our Pool, 2001’, documenting the protests to save the Calder Street swimming baths in Govanhill, Glasgow. The second zine, no.12, will be a look back to the ‘No M77', 1994/95’ protest march and Carhenge - a symbolic anti-motorway protest in Pollok Park estate using rusting cars, upended into the ground as an artistic show of defiance and grass roots resistance. 

Here are the two covers, hopefully they’ll be away to the printers very soon. I’m just awaiting some text for the forewords from collaborators.

Save Our Pool, Govanhill, Glasgow, 2001 - These photographs document in part the Save Our Pool campaign at Calder Street Baths swimming pool in Govanhill district of Glasgow, in late 2001. 

Earlier that year the City Council had given notice to close the pool citing running costs and lack of use. The residents of the local community opposed the idea, and in March the Save Our Pool protests began including a 140-day long occupation, with accompanying 24-hour picket outside, of the Baths building - the longest occupation of a civic building in UK history. The occupation ended in August, with police using force to regain control of the building, but the Save Our Pool protests were only getting started.

I spent much of that year photographing abroad, on a variety of international assignments, and I rue the fact I don’t have more photographs of the Save Our Pool protests, of the occupation, or of the 7th August ‘Battle of Calder Street’ as the police stormed the Baths buildings. 

But these images show the community involvement in the ongoing Save Our Pool campaign, with marches and a gala day to raise awareness and funds, and from within the empty Baths building itself attempts by activists to clear up even after the occupation had finished. 

Further information: www.govanhillbaths.com

‘No M77 Carhenge 1994/95’, Pollok Estate, Glasgow.

These photographs document a significant moment in Glasgow’s environmental activism movement and history, with marches by activists, local community and schoolchildren using direct action to object to the proposals of the carving through of Pollok Park woods and green space estate to create an M77 motorway extension.

Activists and concerned Glaswegians marched, from the city centre out to Pollok Park, and to what had become known as Carhenge - a symbolic anti-motorway protest using rusting cars, upended into the ground as an artistic show of defiance and grass roots resistance. 

The protests evolved into Pollok Free State, a larger encampment of activism, a temporary autonomous zone resisting authority.

Further information: https://sghet.com/project/the-pollok-free-state-and-its-legacy/

If you’re interested in either drop me a note, and I’ll keep you in mind when they get launched! Or, if you’re a journalist and you’d like to write about either of these and the bodies of work, then again drop me a note and we can discuss it.

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See previous zines, no.’s 1-10, over on the shop.

Thanks everyone!