Nottingham - Lakeside Arts Centre

Visit: 2nd February 2013

'Saturday Night & Sunday Morning' is an exhibition of photographs taken in Nottingham in the 1960s during the filming of kitchen sink classic Saturday Night and Sunday Morning starring Albert Finney and Shirley Ann Fields. It also contained photographs of working class life, factory life and youth culture in 1960s Nottingham.

I really loved the exhibition. All of the photographs were iconic and beautiful, but that might just be because of the romantic nostalgia that succumbs to photos of this era. The real message that the exhibition seemed to give was a kind of working class mentality of 'us and them' that's so common in gritty kitchen sink dramas - like Albert Finney's character says in the film - "Don't let the bastards grind you down. That's one thing you learn. What I'm out for is a good time. All the rest is propaganda".

I liked the film already, but the photographs of the stars interacting with communities and each other were great. It was really interesting to see where, on some photographs, one figure had been painted or etched round, with notes about enlargement or distortion that were the original plans for press releases or posters. Black and white photographs from anywhere in the '60s have the same charm about them - it's hard not to like them.

The gallery itself was really full. I don't think I've ever seen a gallery so full and especially not an arts centre. I thought it was really great how much the space engaged with the community, which I suppose was really helped by the familiarity of the subject matter as people were talking about memories or naming products or items of clothing that they used to have. It's the first gallery I have been in where there was such a healthy cross section of the public there which I thought was great, and I don't think I've ever heard so many people discussing art with such enthusiasm in a gallery before.

I especially liked the photographs of youth culture - the photographs of teenagers in dance-halls were beautiful. The images were so nostalgic and dreamy. There was something incredibly romantic in the quality of the photographs. They were so unlike digital photographs and so superior, they had a lot of depth and that's perhaps why they were so appealing.

Because they were the real thing, not imitations, they felt authentic and honest and you could feel that when you were looking at them. You didn't feel any kind of awkwardness or weakness even because you knew they were the genuine article. So many people try to imitate that style now and it just doesn't work because it suits the time so well. It was great to see something so honest.