We are thrilled to announce our next show, Golden Valley Faces, which will open on Saturday 8th January 2022.
A vivid portrait of life in a remote Herefordshire valley at the start of the twentieth century. Born in 1890, Jenkins was a bright, curious young man who longed to study to be an engineer, to be part of the technological revolution that was going on in the outside world. But as the only son of a farmer he had to stay on the farm.
He consoled himself by learning to take and develop photographs, and produced a remarkable collection of telling images, showing his friends and neighbours at every stage in their lives, paying tribute to their toughness and their skills. Their faces speak with all the freshness and vigour they had a hundred years ago.
Miraculously, nearly a thousand of Jenkins’ glass plate negatives survived. A selection has been published now for the first time, and highlights from the book are included in this exhibition.