Peterborough street photographer Chris Porsz has spent years capturing the faces of the city and in a passion project he brought many of those he had photographed back together years later for a series of fresh images called Reunions.
Many of these have featured in his books and a previous exhibition at Peterborough Museum back in 2012. Now he’s exhibiting a fresh batch of photos in his latest Reunions exhibition, which has just been launched and is on show until March 23.
ESP has long been a supporter of Chris’s candid street photos which have proved a fascinating piece of social history for the city.
Chris told us why he decided to launch a new Reunions exhibition – “Following my retirement as a paramedic after over three decades and the loss of my wife Lesley, I needed a positive distraction and so I approached the museum who kindly agreed to host Reunions,” explained Chris.
“My 2012 exhibition was very popular with just twenty reunions but it is even more special now, as I have over three hundred reunions to choose from, many of which are four decades apart, making them even more fascinating.”
Many of Chris’ characters featured in his pictures were complete strangers and through painstaking detective work and chance encounters, spanning over 40 years, Prorsz was able to track down many of the same people. Subsequently, he recreated the same picture, in the same location, and has now captured over 300 beautiful reunions of friends, families and lovers, some who hadn’t seen each other for years!
Despite these images mainly featuring local people in Peterborough locations, Chris says they have wider appeal.
“People from around the world loved seeing my eighties images of random strangers and the effects of the passage of time on them and perhaps on themselves too. Even more so when they discovered I had taken no initial contact details and only after years of searching was I able to find, persuade and reunite them again, three to four decades later.
"It is a unique project that has never been achieved anywhere before so I am sure local people and beyond will want to see and enjoy this major exhibition that was born in Peterborough.”
Although recreating these images has taken Chris years to achieve he says there have been many highlights in amongst the hurdles to making it happen.
“It was frustrating and disappointing after failing to recreate a favourite image but the successes kept me going such as when I got very lucky with some million-to-one coincidences.
“A man dialed 999 at 3am and by chance got me as a paramedic. He opened his door in a collapsed sate but with treatment he perked up enough to say I had taken his picture with his mates in a derelict house over thirty years ago! I thought I had won the lottery and considered turning up the oxygen.
“At another 999 call where a lady had fallen down the stairs but fortunately was okay, I showed her husband an image of a boy at a gate that I had been searching for. Amazingly he recognised him and as he pointed out of his shop window to show me where he lived a man turned the corner. It was him and led to the reunion over three decades later!
“There were also bitter sweet moments," recalls Chris, "when some had sadly died young but it was heartwarming when families were pleased to see an image of their loved ones as they remember them and were happy to stand in and make a permanent tribute to them in my books. Other highlights were when characters greeted each other with hugs and kisses after meeting again for the first time three to four decades later.”
The stories that feature alongside the reunion pictures detail the characters’ lives since the original photo was taken, helping visitors to connect with the pictures and the people within them.
“One could argue the location is almost incidental to my Reunions project,” adds Chris “as it is more about the concept and is perhaps why it went viral overnight. I am pleased my labour of love has put Peterborough on the map, far and wide, in a very positive light.”
Peterborough’s popular street artist Nathan Murdoch, of Street Arts Hire Ltd, has also created a very special mural at the entrance to the exhibition... but you’ll just have to go along to see it!
Reunions can be seen from now until March 23 for free.
Peterborough Museum is open Tuesday – Saturday, 10am – 4pm, plan your visit today: www.peterboroughmuseum.org.uk/plan-your-visit