07/10/2026
Black History Month October 2026
As part of Black History Month, Walsall Archives is displaying a collection of 20 images by renowned photographer, Vanley Burke. The pictures will be displayed in the library throughout October and November.
Vanley Burke first picked up a camera as a ten-year-old boy in rural Jamaica, where he was born in 1951 in the foothills of the Blue Mountains. In 1965, at the age of fourteen, Burke followed his mother to live in Handsworth, Birmingham, where he began capturing the lives of the community surrounding him. Today, Burke is often referred to as the ‘Godfather of Black British photography’ and his work has been exhibited widely both internationally and in the UK, including solo exhibitions at Cornerhouse in Manchester, Walsall Museum and Art Gallery and Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery (https://artscouncilcollection.org.uk/artist-profile-vanley-burke).
These pictures were first exhibited in 1986 as part of the Caribbean Focus Exhibition in the Art Gallery and feature candid portraits and key moments in the lives of the Afro- Caribbean community. The images now form a collection in Walsall Archives.
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