The Photographers’ Gallery, images of Manchester by Shirley Baker

Shirley Bak­er is only now being recog­nised as one of the most impor­tant female pho­tog­ra­phers and social doc­u­menters of the last cen­tu­ry. The haunt­ing and com­pelling 2007 doc­u­men­tary of Joy Divi­sion, direct­ed by Grant Gee, opens with a mon­tage of images of Man­ches­ter in the 70s. It depicts a time of sweep­ing changes after the post-war streets were sys­tem­at­i­cal­ly cleared…

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Focus on Manchester: LoneLady at Rough Trade mini gig; Shirley Baker photography retrospective

On first hear­ing that jagged, frac­tured gui­tar intro to Intu­ition, I was trans­port­ed back to the days of the late 70s band Gang of Four, my for­mer uni­ver­si­ty col­leagues. Indeed Julie Ann Camp­bell, aka LoneLa­dy, is a bit of a fan­girl for the group, and for that era of spiky, spare post-punk. More recent­ly her per­for­mance at Oslo, Hack­ney, saw her supporting…

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