Alternative Kids 1980 – We Met Again 2026

Alternative Kids 1980 – We Met Again 2026 runs at The Harris from Saturday 17 October 2026 to Sunday 10 January 2027. It's in Gallery Two, and the whole thing is free, no ticket needed.

Back in the autumn of 1980, Sam Hill was in his final year at Blackpool Art College. For a graphic design project, he spent his time photographing the young people of Preston town centre — the mods, the punks and the early Goths who spent their days hanging around. His lecturer, the industrial landscape photographer John Davies, took such an interest that he staged an exhibition of the images at The Grundy Art Gallery in Blackpool in February 1981. Hill has since said he wanted to show those teenagers with dignity, rather than as the violent or anti-social punks so many pictures of that era portrayed.

He first thought about revisiting them around 2012. After retiring from design in November 2025, he spent the summer of 2026 tracking down more than 40 of the original subjects. Among them were musicians, artists and writers, including Jon Da Silva, who went on to become one of the Hacienda's most significant acid house DJs. The exhibition hangs the 1980 and 2026 photographs side by side, and Hill has compared the experience to the ITV series Up.

It's a long run, so you've got plenty of time to get there — it stays open through Christmas and into the new year, from 17 October right through to 10 January. Free entry, no ticket required, in Gallery Two at The Harris.