St Marks Church Choir Boys, Hackney
Photograph
1970s (photographed), 2010 (printed)
1970s (photographed), 2010 (printed)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Dennis Morris moved to Britain from Jamaica in the early 1960s and began taking photographs from the age of eight. His personal photographs of British Caribbean community life in Hackney came to form the series Growing Up Black.
Morris became interested in photography through the church, after joining a photographic club that had been set up for the St. Marks Church choir he was part of. Some of his first photographs are of the choirboys dressed in their formal Eton suits, a style of clothing worn by pupils at Eton College in Windsor. The formality of this clothing and the church setting gives a sense of the English traditions Morris and his fellow choristers encountered growing up in London. Morris recalls the experience happily, ‘this is where it all began for me. This is how we looked in our Eton suits. We were little devilish angels.’
The V&A acquired ten photographs by Dennis Morris as part of the Staying Power project. Staying Power is a five year partnership between the V&A and Black Cultural Archives. The project aims to explore black British experience from the 1950s to the 1990s through photographs acquired by the V&A and oral histories conducted by Black Cultural Archives.
Morris became interested in photography through the church, after joining a photographic club that had been set up for the St. Marks Church choir he was part of. Some of his first photographs are of the choirboys dressed in their formal Eton suits, a style of clothing worn by pupils at Eton College in Windsor. The formality of this clothing and the church setting gives a sense of the English traditions Morris and his fellow choristers encountered growing up in London. Morris recalls the experience happily, ‘this is where it all began for me. This is how we looked in our Eton suits. We were little devilish angels.’
The V&A acquired ten photographs by Dennis Morris as part of the Staying Power project. Staying Power is a five year partnership between the V&A and Black Cultural Archives. The project aims to explore black British experience from the 1950s to the 1990s through photographs acquired by the V&A and oral histories conducted by Black Cultural Archives.
Object details
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| Titles |
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| Materials and techniques | Gelatin silver print |
| Brief description | Photograph by Dennis Morris, 'St Marks Church Choir Boys, Hackney', from the series Growing Up Black, gelatin silver print, London, ca. 1970, printed 2010 |
| Physical description | Black and white photograph of a group of young black choir boys seated in the pews of an ornate church. There are five boys sat in two rows, seen from a diagonal perspective. In the foreground, the ends of the wooden pews are in focus. All five boys wear the same choir-boy uniform with a stiff, white collar. Each of the boys looks in a different direction, the one in the centre of the frame appears contemplative. |
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| Marks and inscriptions | (signed and titled on the reverse) |
| Gallery label |
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| Credit line | Supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. |
| Object history | The V&A acquired this photograph as part of the Staying Power project. Staying Power is a five year partnership between the V&A and Black Cultural Archives. The project aims to explore black British experience from the 1950s to the 1990s through photographs acquired by the V&A and oral histories conducted by Black Cultural Archives. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Place depicted | |
| Summary | Dennis Morris moved to Britain from Jamaica in the early 1960s and began taking photographs from the age of eight. His personal photographs of British Caribbean community life in Hackney came to form the series Growing Up Black. Morris became interested in photography through the church, after joining a photographic club that had been set up for the St. Marks Church choir he was part of. Some of his first photographs are of the choirboys dressed in their formal Eton suits, a style of clothing worn by pupils at Eton College in Windsor. The formality of this clothing and the church setting gives a sense of the English traditions Morris and his fellow choristers encountered growing up in London. Morris recalls the experience happily, ‘this is where it all began for me. This is how we looked in our Eton suits. We were little devilish angels.’ The V&A acquired ten photographs by Dennis Morris as part of the Staying Power project. Staying Power is a five year partnership between the V&A and Black Cultural Archives. The project aims to explore black British experience from the 1950s to the 1990s through photographs acquired by the V&A and oral histories conducted by Black Cultural Archives. |
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| Bibliographic reference | Morris, D. Growing Up Black (London: Autograph ABP, 2012), illustrated, pg. 19 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.1485-2010 |
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| Record created | February 1, 2011 |
| Record URL |
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