jon shard,

Latest exhibition

The John Rylands Library is opening a new exhibition in Spinningfields to mark Manchester Pride 2025 in collaboration with photographers Jon Shard and Stuart Linden Rhodes

From Monday, 18 August explore Come Out Tonight: queer 90s nightlife an exhibition capturing the energy and growth of the queer scene of the early 1990s. Displayed along The Avenue in Spinningfields, the photographs celebrate 90s queer nights in Manchester and across the country revealing a thriving, dynamic and inclusive community. 

Celebrate more queer stories by visiting The Secret Public: LGBTQ pop 1955-1985, a free exhibition at The John Rylands Library. Open Wednesday-Saturday, 10am-5pm.  

The photographs capture the queer scene of the early 1990s. These images show a thriving, dynamic and inclusive community, a world where people could express and be themselves. They document a scene growing in size and confidence with images reflecting joy, love and freedom.

Lindens’ images show nights across the country from Manchester to Wakefield, Liverpool to Birmingham, Derby to Blackpool. Jon Shard’s photographs focus on the legendary Flesh night at The Haçienda in Manchester. Monthly, and on a Wednesday, the night was a sell out and set a template for a new kind of queer night.

Jon Shard is renowned for his visually distinguished photography across advertising, sport and portraiture. His photographs of Flesh have become some of the most recognisable images of The Haçienda and have been exhibited globally. He has work in the permanent collection of The National Portrait Gallery.

Stuart Linden Rhodes was the roving reporter for All Points North and Gay Times during the early to mid-1990s, his columns for those magazines were entitled: Out & About with Linden. In November 2024, three of Stuart’s photographs were added to Manchester Art Gallery’s permanent collection.

Work by both photographers forms part of the collection at The John Rylands Library.


Explore more queer stories in The Secret Public: LGBTQ pop 1955-1985, a free exhibition at The John Rylands Library. Open Wednesday-Saturday, 10am-5pm.

Exhibition runs from 18th August – 5th October 2025

OPEN EYE EXHIBITION DUOVISON →

New exhibition at the Open Eye Gallery featuring images from my Hacienda collection

https://openeye.org.uk/whatson/for-your-pleasure/

“Once upon a time there were cities where squats were legal, rents affordable and old nightclubs sat empty. In these recession-hit places, kids from mixed backgrounds played and created together. Music was made, clubs were formed, boundaries were broken and great times were had. This was the UK in the early 1990s.’’ – DuoVision, guest curators. 

At a time when Section 28, a law introduced by Margaret Thatcher, made it criminal for local authorities and schools to ‘promote’ homosexuality, silencing the voices of queer people while the AIDS crisis tore through communities, queer people still danced, loved and came together to be themselves.

For this exhibition, Open Eye Gallery worked with guest curators, DuoVision (Martin Green & James Lawler). Club culture was an integral and informative part of DuoVision’s world, as Martin Green is also a DJ and ran the influential 90s club Smashing. James Lawler also avidly frequented clubs in London and the North West. In this exhibition, DuoVision wanted to celebrate their dancefloor roots by exploring memories from the community they helped to build. The show includes photography by Marc Vallée, Jon Shard, Donald Milne, David Swindells and a film by Tim Brunsden, reflecting on DuoVision’s practice, commissioned by Open Eye Gallery. 

Proudly supported by Homotopia. 

Martin Green & James Lawler, guest curators, DuoVision, said: 

The Open Eye Gallery has always offered ourselves and other marginalised creatives much needed support and advice. We are pleased to finally be collaborating on this new exhibition which explores our own personal history and connections to UK club culture through two particular nightclubs, Smashing and Flesh at The Hacienda. In recent years Queer culture has become seen as a relevant subject for examination within gallery spaces, and this exhibition explores its roots as it manifested and developed on the dancefloor.

 

Adrian Friedli, Interim Executive Director, Homotopia, said: 

With this exhibition, DuoVision takes the celebration of North West music from the 80s into the 90s. Having partnered with the fantastic DuoVision on The Holly Johnson Story, currently on display at Museum of Liverpool until 27th July 2025, Homotopia is delighted to support our long-term collaborators in this exciting and important project. An amazing show, and a significant event in marking the legacy of North West club and Queer culture.

 

Bronwyn Andrews, exhibition assistant curator and creative producer, Open Eye Gallery, said:

For Your Pleasure relishes queer club culture and its specific mode of existence as a refuge for queer expression. The queer club night’s haven-like quality – both in the 90s and today – allows for freedom of being, movement and connection in a way the daytime world could never. 

Martin and James of DuoVision are unique curators in that they are part of the community their practice represents. Building a network of artists, musicians, and designers over 30+ years, they have played no small role in creating safe, creative spaces for queer people to come together and express themselves.

 

Duovision comprises of Martin Green & James Lawler. Together since 2012, they have curated over 40 exhibitions highlighting undervalued artists, photographers and designers.They have brought many multimedia artists into the spotlight – Roxana Halls, Duggie Fields, Corline Coon – as well as worked with old friends Derek Jarman, Marc Almond, Holly Johnson and Jarvis Cocker. 

Martin & James work extensively with a community of LGBTQIA+ individuals built from close relationships, nurtured for over 30+ years. They curate from within and have created a culture which nurtures talent and vibrant self expression. Music, performance and discussion are also integral to DuoVision, with exhibition soundtracks produced by Marc Almond and Jarvis Cocker and performances by Patrick Wolf and Andrew Logan.

Image by Jon Shard

Jon

The Great John Cale,

Photographed at the Natural History Museum for the cover of his HoboSapiens album, This is one of my most memorable music shoots. The shoot was beautifully art directed and designed by my good friend Rick Myers, with John Cale patiently posing for the camera.

This is the start of my new project, archiving my entire music portfolio from the beginning of my career. With a mass collection of film and contact sheets to sift through, this promises to be a nostalgic journey down memory lane.

Latest shoot with Mo Salah for Pepsi

RIP TAYLOR HAWKINS

Really sad news about the passing of Taylor Hawkins

I was lucky enough to photograph Taylor on a few occasions including in the image back in 1997

He was such a cool, friendly and kind hearted guy. He will be greatly missed .

MO SALAH

A few more images from the Vodafone campaign