RIDGERS, Derek. Skinheads.

(London): Chenil Studio Gallery, [1980].  First edition.  Announcement card.  Card measuring 10.5cm by 15cm announces Ridges (sic) iconic Skinheads exhibition at the Chenil Studio Gallery Sept 1 – Sept 13, 1980.  The card also Fashion shows and exhibitions by William Douglas, Lisa Vandy, David Graves and Brian Holsworth.  One night in 1979, Ridgers arrived at the notorious Billy’s nightclub, camera-in-hand, to document a group of New Romantics. Instead, upon his arrival, he found that they’d upped sticks and moved on – without thinking to tell him first. “In their place,” he recalls, “there were a lot of normal club kids and, as it turned out, a group of about half-a-dozen skinheads. They saw me photographing some of the other kids and one of them came over to me and said, ‘look why don’t you take some pictures of us?’” It led to an exhibition (aptly titled Skinhead) at the Chenil Studio gallery the following year – and kick-started a career that saw Ridgers capture Britain’s weird and wonderful social tribes unlike anyone before him.  The card is in very good condition.  Rare.