Market Day, Paul Trevor, book review: ‘Real-world theatre’

Trevor captures a varied cast, including animals. Photograph: Paul Trevor

“I was drawn to the Sunday market by the people, by the contrast between the energy they created and the run-down state of the place, and by the spontaneous and highly-visual ‘street theatre’ on display.”

This is how award-winning photographer Paul Trevor describes the motive behind his new book Market Day, a collection of images of street markets in E1 and E2, shot between 1974 and 1992.

Trevor has been documenting street life in East London since the 1970s.

The cast in his real-world theatre includes traders, musicians, magicians, acrobats, cooks, beggars and animals, against a jumbled backdrop of goods of every description through which people root and rummage.

What captures the reader is the teeming exuberance of the street, manifesting the full gamut of emotions, from the unalloyed joy of children playing to the studious concentration of customers examining labels and the surprise of eyes turned up from stacked wares to an unknown object above.

‘Detritus of trade’: There are ‘striking’ shots of objects as well as people. Photograph: Paul Trevor

Yet there are also striking pictures of objects: an overturned barrow with smashed vegetables; a stillife of two ceramic wash basins; two bicycles and a pair of cupboards.

This detritus of trade paints a telling picture of how value is imbued in everyday objects.

The market for photo books of East London in years gone by has become saturated, but this volume nonetheless marks a significant contribution.

The selection is somewhat marred by incongruous additions such as images of the interior of the Whitechapel Gallery, and several others that don’t quite fit. But overall this is an impressive collection.

Market Day by Paul Trevor is published by Hoxton Mini Press. ISBN: 978-1-914314-82-7; RRP: £20.00