Simon Murphy - Govanhill
20th August - 20th September 2025
Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling
Stirling Photography Festival Beyond 2025
Exhibition Opening Event - Thurs 28th August, 7-9pm. Tickets Here
Simon Murphy’s highly popular Govanhill is showing at the Macrobert Arts Centre, as part of Stirling Photography Festival Beyond 2025. First exhibited at Street Level Photoworks, from October 2023 until January 2024, this unique edit from that collection offers a deep and intimate portrait of a diverse neighbourhood in the Southside of Glasgow, capturing the spirit, resilience, and humanity of its people.
Simon Murphy has been photographing the people of Govanhill since 1999, first as a resident and later through his dedicated street portraiture project, which began in 2016. His images, shot in black and white using a medium format camera, offer a compelling visual narrative of a neighbourhood that is at once hyper-local and truly global. Govanhill is home to an estimated 88 languages within a compact 0.33 square-mile area. This extraordinary diversity brings both challenges and vibrancy, and Murphy’s work captures this duality through the faces and stories of those who call it home. His portraits celebrate the dignity, hope, and aspirations of Govanhill’s residents, affirming the universal values of belonging and identity.
Simon Murphy is an award-winning photographer based in Glasgow whose work spans global human interest stories, from Bangladesh to the Democratic Republic of Congo. His Govanhill series has received widespread acclaim, featuring in leading photography publications and exhibitions. The monographic exhibition of the work was shown at Street Level Photoworks in late 2023/early 2024. Murphy is also a photography lecturer and Chair of the Scottish Portrait Awards. His practice is driven by a commitment to social documentary, using photography as a means to foster understanding and engagement.
The project is a celebration of people and community but photographed with a raw reality. A portrait of circumstance, hope and aspiration. In this sense, Murphy’s work is in a strong humanistic tradition of documentary photography, amplifying the values of dignity, equality and tolerance. It is equally humanitarian in its celebration of the area, in amplifying a sense of pride to the residents and allowing the images to trigger conversation.
Macrobert Arts Centre, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA
Opening Hours: Mon - Sun 10am till 10pm
Images © Simon Murphy
