London, U.K., August 2024: Pedalling Arts and International Arts are presenting ‘Working Lives’, an exhibition of historical photographs that connect the working lives of people in the UK and Ukraine.

Many of the photographs will be exhibited in shop windows along Lower Marsh, close to Waterloo Station.

It includes photos from the SE1 Collection - a community photography project in Waterloo during the 1970s which recorded the people who worked and lived in Lower Marsh. Plus, photos by Ukrainian photographer Ranchukov who took raw images of working people in Soviet Kyiv, and images of Odesa by British photographer Nicholas Hopkins.

This exhibition reflects both the theatrical history of Lower Marsh – the nearby Old Vic Theatre housed the National Theatre between 1963 and 1973 - and the changing demographics of a community that has welcomed large numbers of Ukrainians since the country’s war.

These newly rediscovered photos from archives in London and Kyiv provide fascinating insights into the street and theatre culture of both cities – highlighting the similarities in the working lives of both these communities now living side by side.

Images by celebrated London theatre photographers including Angus McBean and John Vickers will be included alongside photos by their Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Maruschenko. These will be displayed with images of Lower Marsh’s longstanding market and the people who worked and shopped there.

A community outreach programme will include creative workshops in local schools, a local photography competition and an audio guide created by volunteers will draw on memories of local people alongside the newly arrived Ukrainian community.

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