Negative, acetate

These bags and boxes piled up in the street in Spitalfields are full of rubbish which remains uncollected owing to industrial action by dustmen. Public sector workers took part in a series of strikes to demand reduced working hours and increased pay during the winter of 1979, also known as the ‘winter of discontent’. Margaret Macdonald was an art teacher who took up photography and became interested in the Spitalfields area. These photographs focus mostly on street scenes that record the neighbourhood’s local businesses and diverse community.