To the Editor of Amateur Photographer

The Pavilion in Leeds, founded in 1983, was the first feminist photographers’ collective in Europe. Filmmakers Luke Fowler and Mark Fell evoke the often controversial history of the gallery in their impressionistic journey through archive material, minutes, newspaper articles, talk shows and personal recollections.
Photographers such as Angela Kingston and Caroline Taylor each choose a favourite photo characteristic of that turbulent period. In so doing, they look back together at the radical shift that took place in photography, with The Pavilion upending the dominant culture of patriarchal images in an era alive with social, political and economic change.
At the same time, they recognise that evoking an activist past can be associated with romanticisation and distortion, which is accentuated by a pulsing analogue soundtrack. Lack of funds was a recurrent problem for The Pavilion. But the conviction that feminists could bring about change through a collective effort was not affected by these financial concerns. See also Depositions in compilation programme The Dragon is the Frame.