Come to this if you are in Bristol on Thursday 22nd

I wil be giving a talk about some of my research into archives of black history in Bristol this Thursday the 22nd from around 7.00 at The Arts House in the Stokes Croft area of Bristol. It is part of the monthly photo-talk Instant Coffee's which is run by a lovely Spaniard called Alex and sounds like it would be very interesting if I was in Bristol more often. They seem to take it very seriously and usually invite only practicing photographers working in the documentary strain of photography which makes me feel very special since I am neither a photographer nor one that works in documentary photography.

Here is some blurb, which i'm ashamed to say, I did not have the pleasure of having it written for me.

Gavin Maitland is a curator, archivist and photo-historian. He currently works in archives of Christies and the Victoria and Albert Museum and previously attended Glasgow School of Art, NSCAD in Nova Scotia and most recently DeMontfort University in Leicester. He writes about the social and geographic (mis)representation of maligned cultures through photography’s varying histories.

For Instant Coffees, Maitland will be sharing his research into the history of the Bamboo Club, Bristol’s first West-Indian social club located in St. Paul’s from 1966 - 1977. The fragmentary archive of which serves as a visual legacy to the history of West Indian culture in Bristol at a time of great cultural and political upheaval in the UK. Maitland will highlight the importance of employing different approaches in order to conduct historical research, arguing that considerations such as the ephemeral nature of the photograph may lead to an appreciation of its social, commercial and/or industrial life prior to its internment within the archive. 

Please see the Instant Coffees website here for more details.