Lives in Focus: Photography in Sheffield’s Collection

This new exhibition, drawn from the city collection, celebrates photography’s unique power to reveal connections spanning generations, geographies and shared histories. 

At its heart is a group of newly acquired photographic works by Jyll Bradley, Joanne Coates, Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Sunil Gupta and Rene Matić. Informed by the artists’ own experiences, these compelling images bring vital new perspectives on the themes of identity, community and belonging. 

These recent acquisitions are presented alongside selected works from the wider collection by artists including Fay Godwin, Isaac Julien and Sam Taylor-Johnson. Together, they showcase how photographers explore both portraiture and place to document and question the world around us. Reflecting on ideas of visibility, marginalisation and desire, the works on display highlight how photographers have used the medium to challenge dominant narratives and foreground voices that have often been overlooked.