Waiting for the Magic - The Photography of Oscar Marzaroli
29th January - 2nd May 2022
North Lanarkshire Heritage Centre, Motherwell
Oscar Marzaroli (1933 – 1988) is arguably Scotland’s most notable documentary photographer. His photographs and films of Glasgow from the 1950s through to the 1980s are said to be the most evocative record of the city, capturing a period of enormous change with images of people going about their lives in the city, at work and at leisure.
Many of the black and white images depict children playing in the streets, and many simply capture the city in bygone days. Some of his most well known images detail Glasgow’s Gorbals community in the 1960s. He was a photographer of great ability who captured the nature of the city and people with sensitivity and empathy. Whilst many of Marzaroli’s photographs of Glasgow are instantly recognisable, such as ‘The Castlemilk Lads’ or ‘The Golden Haired Lass’, Marzaroli worked all over Scotland and further afield as a photographer and filmmaker. An extensive range of the subject matter is embraced across the broad themes of People and Places and The Gorbals, with sections devoted to Industry, Rural Scotland as well as some of the personalities he captured.
The exhibition was first shown at Street Level Photoworks in 2019, and this iteration at North Lanarkshire Heritage Centre, Motherwell features a previously unseen contact sheet and three additional images made at Ravenscraig Steel Works in 1962.
With thanks to Carole McCallum and all at Glasgow Caledonian University, The Oscar Marzaroli Collection, Marie-Claire Maccabe and Nicola Hay.
View the Virtual Exhibition here
This is a Street Level Photoworks touring exhibition.
All Images in the exhibition © The Marzaroli Collection.
North Lanarkshire Heritage Centre
High Road
Motherwell ML1 3HU
01698 274590
