Glaswegians - Cranhill Arts, Alistair McCallum & Jane Carroll
19th July – 5th October 2025
On show at Street Level Photoworks, for the first time in over 34 years, portraits from Cranhill Arts Glaswegians project. Begun in 1989, Glaswegians is a vital record of Glasgow at that time and remains one of the most important community-led, from-the-ground-up arts projects the islands of Britain have seen, and is the single biggest photographic project ever undertaken in Scotland. Twenty-two people from Cranhill Arts took 30,000 photographs of their fellow citizens between 1989 and 1993, the bulk 1989 to 1991. Working in black and white and colour, they were taken all over the city – at work, at school, the young, the old, the carers and the cared for, in the pubs, the clubs and on the streets. It is an insider's perspective on Glasgow.
The photographs were exhibited in 26 countries worldwide, across the city in shops, pubs, galleries, libraries and supermarket packing areas. Images were last exhibited in Tramway in Glasgow in 1991. It is also a project which is largely forgotten and unknown to most today.
By the time Glasgow City of Culture came along, we were ready, able and willing to step up and have our say. We had built up really great resources, but most importantly there were a whole load of people locally, at Cranhill Arts, with the nous and experience to come together and do something with those resources. Together, we set about photographing our fellow citizens. Over 4 years we built up a portrait of our city through thousands of portraits of Glaswegians. - Alistair McCallum
Street Level Photoworks has paired the Glaswegians photographs with large-scale, full-colour posters from Glasgow’s streets at the time. Screenprinted by Cranhill Arts, the posters, with the photographs, revisit a significant point in Glasgow’s history.
Looking back, a lot was happening in the world, and Glasgow was at the forefront, and the receiving end, of a lot of it. From the imposition of the poll tax to the campaign to free Nelson Mandela - Glasgow was front and centre. Printing up posters for benefit gigs, campaigns, protests and celebrations, we made connections between the local, the city, and the international. - Alistair McCallum
The Glaswegians posters, designed by Alistair McCallum and Jane Carroll, recall a time when musicians, pop stars, actors, poets, and comedians from across Scotland came together to collaborate.
Looking back at the posters, it’s like a who’s who of Scottish pop and folk. Dick Gaughan, the McCluskey Brothers, Jim Kerr from Simple Minds, RunRig, Deacon Blue, Hue & Cry, the Blue Nile and more were all on there and all out there doing their bit. - Jane Carroll
Cranhill is a working-class community in the east end of Glasgow, a housing scheme built during the post-war wave of redevelopment. Cranhill Arts Project (still there after 44 years) was started in 1981 by local people, and built up fantastic resources for photography, screen printing and then graphic design. Many Cranhill Arts Project users have gone on to work in the print, reprographic and media industries, especially as photographers of various kinds.
Glaswegians is a component of the Street Level Photoworks exhibition The Scene from Within, and runs from 19th July until 5th October 2025.
Banner Image: © Cranhill ArtsLeft Image: © Central Designs, Alistair McCallum and Jane Carroll
