Entitled Human Stories: Unreported Uprisings, Dalal will present a series of powerful photographic essays documenting the protests of striking workers in the UK. Photographed in the first quarter of 2023 during the strikes of firefighters, train drivers, teachers, junior doctors, nurses, public civil servants and many more disenchanted groups within society, Dalal shares an unpublished contemporary archive and commentary of the prevailing British social landscape, at a time when the country came very close to mobilising a General Strike.
Dalal’s journey as a documentary photographer documenting social justice campaigns began in the summer of 2011, when she was deeply moved by the five days of uprisings across England in response to Mark Duggan’s death after he was shot by the police. The uprisings shook the nation and prompted her to consider the urgent question: ‘who am I photographing, and why?’
During her fifteen years of artistic practice, Dalal actively communicates solidarity through photography, audio and video archives. Human Stories: Unreported Uprisings is the story of the days she spent between January and March 2023 amidst striking train drivers, teachers, teaching assistants, lecturers, firefighters, nurses, accident & emergency ambulance staff; documenting the protestors defending their right to strike as well as demanding fair pay. The body of work celebrates the power of photography in the art of protest and captures a palpable spirit of free speech, solidarity and community; holding space for citizens to tell their own stories in their own words.
