This exhibition presents Chris Killip’s photographs taken at The Station music venue in Gateshead in 1985. The Station is a dedicated performance and rehearsal space established by The Gateshead Music Collective, after their previous venue was threatened with closure.

‘In 1985 I was photographing nightlife venues in Newcastle when someone told me about The Station. I was amazed by the energy and feel of the place. It was totally different; run for and by the people who went there. I stopped going to other venues to photograph there on Saturday nights. Nobody ever asked me where I was from or even who I was.’ – Chris Killip

These images were recently discovered by Killip’s son, who found a box of contact sheets made by his father 30 years previous and had laid unseen in Killip’s archives. They document the style, theatricality and raw energy of the counter-culture Punk movement which flourished under Thatcher’s government in the UK.

See Martin Parr’s virtual tour of The Station show, followed by a look at some Chris Killip highlights from the MPF collection, on the Martin Parr Foundation IGTV.

Photo – The Station, 1985. © Chris Killip, 2020