Marking the sixtieth anniversary of The Sunday Times Magazine 1965 Special Issue on 'The North', Arts Council England is providing the major funding for a year-long project which builds on the work of John Bulmer FRPS, whose evocative images of the north of England became a cornerstone of British documentary photography.

Simon Hill HonFRPS has been commissioned to undertake a year-long project to revisit those communities visited by Bulmer, and many other northern communities, to capture the evolving identity of ‘The North’. The project will create a national archive of several thousand photographs and, as a homage to Bulmer’s pioneering colour work, The North Revisited will be shot on Phoenix 200, a new colour film designed and manufactured in the north of England by Harman Technology. This 'quirky' colour film provides an analogue aesthetic that simultaneously harmonises with Bulmer's 1960 colour photographs while affording a unique character to this modern interpretation of what has become an iconic photographic legacy.

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In the sixty years since Bulmer was commissioned to photograph the industrial and social decline of England’s northern counties, the post-industrial North struggled to come to terms with the decline of the region’s industries, the loss of employment, erosion of social cohesion, and the decimation of community and local identity. Yet today, existing and incoming populations are working to build new prospects for the North. Community-led initiatives are encouraging more diverse populations into areas that were the traditional homelands of “white, working-class Britain.” Their collective ambition is to catalyse the commercial and cultural evolution of communities and establish a new and sustainable cultural and economic landscape.  

Once synonymous with heavy industry, cities like Manchester, Leeds, and Newcastle are now leveraging a greater diversity of employment, striving to become vibrant cultural hubs. They are embracing their rich industrial heritage and creating a diversity of new communities and identities. Commercial innovation, the emergence of hi-tech industry, new retail, leisure and visitor attractions, are leveraging economic growth. 

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The North Revisited will revisit the towns and cities photographed by Bulmer to document, with more than 4000 photographs, this redefining of the North, recording and celebrating the diverse communities for which the Northern counties are now home. But the project will not turn a ‘blind eye’ to the problems and challenges that still exist and with which so many former industrial communities continue to struggle.  Despite the positive strides made in revitalising the post-industrial North, there has been widespread criticism of failures to effectively address regional disparities and fulfil the ambition of "levelling up” with the South.