In 1984, at the age of 18, Richard Davis left home and moved into a shared house in the Moseley District of Birmingham. “It felt a good fit for me – alternative, full of young people and open-minded,” he says.
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“I remember someone in the house telling me about a centre for the unemployed run by the Birmingham Trades Council, which was located within walking distance of our house in Sparkhill – an inner-city neighbourhood with a large Asian and Irish population.”
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At the centre, Davis discovered a darkroom and making photographs, an expensive practice made possible by the generous supply of free film, paper, and chemicals. “Its staff offered nothing but encouragement and support. They would often send me out onto the streets of Birmingham armed with a camera and tell me not to come back until I had a decent set of photos,” he says.
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