A low-angle photograph of flowers in a flower box backlit by the sun. A row of shops is visible in the background.
'A Tyldesley Sunset' - Flowers in a flower box outside Tyldesley Town Hall on Elliott Street © Ryan Bowen. Source: Historic England Archive. View image record HEC01/128/02/21/01
'A Tyldesley Sunset' - Flowers in a flower box outside Tyldesley Town Hall on Elliott Street © Ryan Bowen. Source: Historic England Archive. View image record HEC01/128/02/21/01

Picturing High Streets Through the Eyes of the Public

Picturing High Streets was a 3-year project to involve the public in creating a contemporary picture of England’s high streets. 

On this page
  1. Involving the public
  2. Mass public participation 
  3. Photographers in residence  

Involving the public

The Picturing High Streets project had 2 parts:

  • A mass public participation project inviting the public to submit their photos of the high street using the Instagram hashtag #PicturingHighStreets
  • Nine photographers in residence across 6 high street locations, working with local communities to co-create snapshots of the high street

Over 370 photographs documenting and celebrating the high street were selected to create a new collection in the Historic England Archive.

About the Picturing High Streets collection 

The project partners were Historic England and photography champions Photoworks who worked with 9 regional partner photography organisations from 2020 to 2023.

The project was part of the High Streets Heritage Action Zones Cultural Programme. The cultural programme set out to create 4 years of cultural activity, engaging communities with, and celebrating, their local high streets. 

Mass public participation 

From September 2022 to September 2023, people across England responded to our call out to submit their photos of the high street on Instagram using the hashtag #PicturingHighStreets and tagging @PicturingHighStreets.  

Through themed fortnightly challenges, the public were invited and inspired to share their high street images.  

Over 10,000 photographs were posted on Instagram, from portraits to street photography to artistic interpretations to black and white scenes. For each theme Historic England, Photoworks and partners, selected their favourites to add to the Historic England Archive.

The collection presents a snapshot of a year in the life of the English high street, documenting and celebrating the people, places and stories it holds. 

Gallery of highlights

Gallery

Please click on the gallery images to enlarge.

A view from behind showing a person wearing a bike helmet, sitting at a bus stop A couple embracing beside a florist's stall on the corner of a London street. Pedestrians crossing a zebra crossing painted in rainbow colours. A woman standing in front of the Marcus Rashford mural in Withington, with posters, flowers and flags on the ground and wall. Pedestrians passing a shuttered shop on a street corner. Exterior photo of maypole dancers dancing in a street environment, with bunting made of Union Jack flags flying overhead. A view from the first floor balcony looking across the open space of the Corn Exchange, with brightly coloured shopfronts beneath the dome. A rail of colourful material on display outside a market stall. A portrait of a man wearing a suit, leaning against a bollard.

Local competitions 

Alongside the fortnightly themed call outs, local Picturing High Streets competitions asked for images from the public that captured the unique character of their towns or specific high street features such as bus stops and ghost signs. Winning images from these local call outs were used in exhibitions and added into the Historic England Archive for: 

National touring exhibition

An outdoor exhibition, featuring over 60 images collected from public submissions toured towns and cities across England from March to November 2023. 

In 2023, a panel of judges chose a selection of more than 60 winning images from the thousands submitted by the public to the Instagram call outs. The panel included: 

  • Wayne Hemingway, designer and retail expert 
  • Camille Walala, artist 
  • Ben Hope, Clear Channel’s Marketing Director
  • Duncan Wilson, Chief Executive of Historic England
  • Jonathan May, Interim Director, Photoworks
  • Shoair Mavlian, Director, The Photographers' Gallery

These photographs were exhibited in different spaces and formats across England, including panels in Bristol, Derby, Norwich, Bradford and Walsall, window vinyls in Middlesbrough, Hastings, Prescot and Stoke-on-Trent, projections outside The Photographers' Gallery in London, and on Clear Channel UK advertising space across England. 

Gallery

Please click on the gallery images to enlarge.

A bus pulled into a bus stop, on a busy high street. A clear channel digital screen at the front of the bus stop shows a picture of a Shakespeare Playhouse North. The title reads 'Bus Stop Stories' A bus pulled into a bus stop, public board the bus. A clear channel digital screen at the front of the bus stop shows a picture of a woman holding a balloon waiting for the bus. The title and subtitle read 'Bus Stop Stories #PicturingHighStreets'. A person walks past a window installation A man looking at a window installation. A man walking passed window installations A woman and man, pushing a pram, looking at the installations in a window. Installations set up outside in the market place People walk passed a long line of installations. A man looking at one of the installations on the street Image being projected onto a wall with people walking passed. Installations in shop windows A man looking at one of the installations in a shop window

Photographers in residence  

Nine photographers, selected via open call, undertook residencies at 6 high street locations across England. Resident artists in Bristol, Chester, Coventry, Leicester, Prescot, Stoke-on-Trent and London engaged with local communities to co-create snapshots of how the high street is used and who it is used by.

The images now in the Historic England Archive show what communities are proud of in their towns and the local customs and traditions linked to the high street in different parts of the country. 

  • Dreamlines: Picturing Bristol High Streets

    Bristol Photo Festival commissioned local photographers to document the stories of Bristol high streets and the communities inhabiting them.

  • Suzanne St Clare, Chester

    During a 2-year residency, photographer Suzanne St Clare worked with independent business owners from the Rows in Chester, north-west England.

  • Ciara Leeming, Chester

    People who attend a Mental Health Crisis Space reimagined Chester’s historic city centre using archive images and collaging processes.

  • Tim Mills, Coventry

    For 12 months, Tim Mills was photographer in residence in Coventry. Tim worked with local communities to create a contemporary response to The Burges.

  • Ayesha Jones, Coventry

    Ayesha Jones documents the stories behind Coventry Market businesses and the impact of modern developments on their livelihoods.

  • Khatun, Leicester

    Emerging artist Khatun describes in her own words how she worked in her hometown of Leicester for a 2-year Picturing High Streets residency.

  • Tony Mallon, Prescot

    Photographic artist Tony Mallon spent 2 years working with Prescot residents to create a contemporary portrait of the area.

  • Lucy Hunter, Prescot

    In 2022, Lucy Hunter and students from Prescot Primary School explored their local area with a key focus on portraiture, high street and exploration.

  • Natalie Willat, Stoke-on-Trent

    For 2 years, Natalie Willatt recorded lives and communities behind closed doors, often hidden from the quiet and neglected high street.

  • Rehan Jamil, Tower Hamlets

    Rehan Jamil worked with residents, shopkeepers, and Tiger Class at Canon Barnett Primary School to co-produce a body of work on Tower Hamlets, London.

Residency highlights

Gallery

Please click on the gallery images to enlarge.

Portrait photo of a man in coat, hat, scarf and gloves, standing on a street with market stalls in the background. Five women stand in a line, four of them holding a piece of paper each with handwritten words: "Yeah, I did it!" They stand in front of closed shutters and a temporary backdrop of white net curtain fabric. People line either side of a length of orange fabric, looking along it as they fold it. Colour photo portrait of a man standing with shopping bags on a pavement. Portrait of a woman, holding a sledgehammer and wearing a vest with logo ‘Warrior, noun, pain is certain, suffering is optional’. Alisha Mitchell with her belongings on moving in day outside Millennium View student halls. Palmer Lane, The Burges. A woman props her head in her hand, leaning on piles of fabric at a market stall. Five dance students practising at a barre in a dance shop with a racks of leotards for sale on the right. Text included in the photo reads: "Picture-perfect scenery, lures more than 4 million visitors annually. Such intense use concerns biologists who say the outlook for the park's wildlife is not a pretty picture."

Supported by

HM Government
Heritage Fund logo
Arts Council
Clear Channel logo
Photoworks
Format Quad
Grain
Impressions Gallery
Open Eye Gallery
Photofusion
The Photographers' Gallery
The Photographic Collections Network
Redeye
ReFramed
University of the Arts London

Also of interest

Picturing High Streets Collection 
Find Photos
Photo Collections in the Historic England Archive