This was an exhibition looking at amusement arcades in British popular culture. It was proposed by Dr Alan Meades (Canterbury Christ Church University), author of Arcade Britannia: A Social History of the British Amusement Arcade (2022, MIT Press). This three-person exhibition included work by Alan Meades, Rob Ball and myself, at the Daphne Oram Gallery, Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU). 

The exhibition included an interactive recreation of Herne Bay amusement arcades, and a selection of items from CCCU’s Nic Costa Archive that offered a perspective on the British arcade. The photographer Rob Ball presented his colour photographs of modern amusement arcades. My contribution to the exhibition was twenty black & white photographic prints of the seaside resorts of Blackpool and Rhyl as well as the display of my photozine Blackpool 1980s–1990s (2023), published by Café Royal Books. 

To accompany the exhibition I produced a brief text for the Canterbury Christ Church University blog titled ‘Change Always Given: Holidays and Slot Machines’ (posted 4 April, 2023); gave a presentation of photographic work to an audience online with Alan Meades and Rob Ball (19 April 2023); and attended a public ‘meet the photographer’ event at the Daphne Oram Gallery (22 April 2023). 

Arcade Britannia.   
6 March–21 April 2023.  
Daphne Oram Gallery, Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury, Kent.