Birmingham 68 Revisited

If you came along to last year’s festival you may remember an exhibition of Richard Rogers' photographs, an in-depth study which followed young couple Frank and Val Cook from Ladywood back-to-backs to the MAC and on to London.

We’ve since discovered that Frank and Val are now living in France, and we’re happy to welcome them back to their home city to talk about this pivotal (and extremely well-documented!) moment in their lives. It promises to be a great opportunity to reflect on the early years of the MAC and the heady atmosphere of late 60s Birmingham.

Another treasure which came to light during our 1968 investigations is a reel of ATV footage from a Victoria Square protest held in the wake of Enoch Powell’s ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech. This unique visual document, which includes footage of clashes between the Indian Worker's Association and fascist protesters, will screen in full. Sadly Avtar Singh Jouhl, organiser of the march that day, is no longer able to participate in this event.

Birmingham 68 is a Flatpack research project supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, culminating in a book which we will launch in summer 2019.

1968 image of Frank and Val Cook by Richard P Rogers, courtesy of Susan Meiselas and Cadbury Research Library.