The Hackney Flashers made work that was portable and could be easily transported and shown in community venues. Both the ‘Women and Work’ and ‘Who’s Holding the Baby’ projects were in high demand and were widely toured.
The following list is a compilation of over 50 individual showings of the Hackney Flashers’ work that has been documented in archives and in publications such as Spare Rib magazine, or mentioned in the minutes kept by the group.
The work was shown in more locations but records were not always kept.
In recent years the work has been exhibited in group exhibitions and retrospectives, showing the impact of the work. Please contact us if you have any details of other exhibitions of the work that we can add to the list.
Exhibitions including Hackney Flasher’s work from 1975
‘Women and Work’, 1975:
Hackney Town Hall, September 20 – October 3, 1975
‘Women and Work’, 1976:
Women & the Cuts Conference, Friends House, London, February
Hackney Central Library, London, May 15-June 1
Half Moon Gallery, London, 7 June – 3 July
Hammersmith & West London College, London
WCC Dublin
Shoreditch School, Falkirk St, London
Congress House, TUC Headquarters, London
Main Library, Stevenage, Hertfordshire
Slide show for Women’s Studies Course, North London Polytechnic, London
TUC Meeting, Trades Council, September
Community Education Centre, Whitechapel, September 6-11th
Brent Family Service Unit, September 13- October 2nd
Labour Party Congress, October
Hackney Downs Playgroup for an exhibition on playgroups at Centreprise, May 31st– June 12th
Slide Shows at:
Polytechnic of Central London, October 26th
London Hospital, Tuesday November 9th
Hoxton Hall Women’s Group, Wednesday November 10th
NUT Teachers Centre in East End, Monday November 15th
‘Women and Work’, 1977:
Women’s Equal Rights Rally, Alexandra Palace, February 26th
Paris Socialist Feminist International Conference, Paris 27th May
Women’s House, Amsterdam
Festival in Derbyshire, June 11-12
Workshop of Counselling at Central Polytechnic, September 2nd – 4th
CP feminist weekend in Bristol, 20 March
University Bristol, 20 March
Colchester, October
‘Women and Work’, 1978:
Social Relevance exhibition, Whitechapel
Slide show at Woman’s Cut Alliance
Drill Hall
Who’s Holding the Baby? 1978:
Market Nursery
Shaw Theatre
Centerprise, 136 Kingsland High Street, Hackney E8. Saturday 4 June – 29 July 1978
Who’s Holding the Baby? 1979:
Women and childcare Conference, Essex University, Colchester. 20 January 1979
Three Perspectives on Photography, Hayward Gallery, South Bank, London SE1, 1 June – 8 July 1979
1980 to the present:
Alexis Hunter, Jo Spence, Hackney Flashers, Bristol Arts Centre, Exhibitions 1 – 30 November, (year unconfirmed)
‘Who’s Holding the Baby?’ Women’s Action Group, Leeds University, 10th – 15th March 1980
‘Who’s Still Holding the Baby???’ Cockpit Gallery, Holborn, September 3rd – 30th 1980
Leeds, 1983
Women and Memory Conference, University of Michigan, March 1986
Jo Spence review of work: 1950-1985, Cambridge Darkroom, exhibition toured by Cockpit Gallery, 15 March – 14 April, 1985, Dales Brewery, Cambridge
Jo Spence review of work: 1950-1985, Ffotogallery, Cardiff, July 1985
Jo Spence review of work: 1950-1985, Battersea Arts Centre until 25 Sept 1985
Jo Spence review of work: 1950-1985, Triangle Gallery, Birmingham, October 1985
Jo Spence review of work: 1950-1985, The Cockpit Gallery, Holborn, London, January 1986
The Jo Spence Health Fund Show – Photography for Life, Camerawork 121 Roman Road, May 16-June 15 1991
Protest and Survive, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, 2000
Jo Spence: Beyond the Perfect Image, Photography, Subjectivity, Antagonism, MACBA, Barcelona, 2005-2006
‘Who’s Holding the Baby?’ Permanent display from 2010, Reina Sofia, Madrid
Jo Spence: Work I, Space, London, 2012
Who’s Still Holding the Baby, Women’s Art Slide Library, Goldsmiths University, London, 2012
Transmitter Receiver, touring Britain, 2012-2013
Hackney Flashers Exposed: 40th Anniversary of a Women’s Photographic Collective, (slideshow and talk), Chats Palace, London, 2014
History Is Now: 7 Artists Take On Britain, Hayward Gallery, London, 2015
Hackney Flashers display, Tate Britain, London, 2015.
HACKNEY FLASHERS: Work of a Women’s Photography Collective 1974-1980, (slideshow and talk), Four Corners Gallery, London, 2015
Women In Revolt!: Art, Activism and the Women’s Movement in the UK 1970–1990, Tate Britain, 8 November 2023 – 7 April 2024
See our archive page for some examples of original material associated with the work and shows.
Research into the number of showings of the work was carried out by writer and book enthusiast Angela Stapleford. This was initially part of her research into the collective while studying MA History of Art (with Photography) at Birkbeck in 2012.
Hackney Flashers 