Lisa Walden: Behind the Beat is an exploration of musical movements, looking at punks, mods, rockers and many other subcultures. What was your inspiration behind the exhibition’s creation?
Jim Stephenson: Behind the Beat is curated by myself and Ali Tollervey. It all started from a conversation in the pub, where Ali and I were discussing his hometown of Portsmouth and his involvement in the Hip Hop scene there. We talked about putting on an exhibition using his images and those by other local photographers, have some music and throw a big party. Out of the blue, Spectrum Photographic gallery approached Miniclick (the photography group I am a part of) and asked if we wanted to curate an exhibition for Brighton Festival Fringe, so Ali and I decided to combine the two. Initially the exhibition was going to be focused on one photographer’s work, but the more research we did the more it became clear that we needed a mix of voices in there from different time periods.

“The common ground on all these subcultures, as disparate as they may appear on the surface, is the strength people find by being a part of it all.”

Lisa: The lineup of photographers at the exhibition looks great. How did you go about choosing the ten featured artists?
Jim: It was more about choosing the bodies of work, rather than the photographers. We did a lot of research for the show. As always, it could have been ten times larger and there are scenes we didn’t get to feature, but we wanted to try and demonstrate something of the breadth and diversity of British subculture, right up to present day. Some of the selections were easy, for instance we knew we wanted some skins in there and we already knew Gavin Watson’s work well. Some of them weren’t so immediately obvious. We knew we had to have something on grime in there – a scene that we maybe weren’t so personally involved in but one that has all the energy and importance that punk did.

Cartier Godrons Decor Lighter $POA

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