This October, NOW Gallery’s critically acclaimed annual photographic exhibition Human Stories returns with a solo exhibition by documentary photographer Inès Elsa Dalal.

Entitled Human Stories: Unreported Uprisings, Dalal will present a series of powerful photographic essays documenting the protests of striking workers in the UK. Photographed in the first quarter of 2023 during the strikes of firefighters, train drivers, teachers, junior doctors, nurses, public civil servants and many more disenchanted groups within society, Dalal shares an unpublished contemporary archive and commentary of the prevailing British social landscape, at a time when the country came very close to mobilising a General Strike.

Dalal’s journey as a documentary photographer documenting social justice campaigns began in the summer of 2011, when she was deeply moved by the five days of uprisings across England in response to Mark Duggan’s death after he was shot by the police. The uprisings shook the nation and prompted her to consider the urgent question: ‘who am I photographing, and why?’

Within her artistic practice, Dalal actively communicates solidarity through photography, audio and video archives. Human Stories: Unreported Uprisings is the story of the days she spent between January and March 2023 amidst striking train drivers, teachers, teaching assistants, lecturers, firefighters, nurses, accident & emergency ambulance staff; documenting the protestors defending their right to strike as well as demanding fair pay. This exhibition celebrates the power of photography in the art of protest and captures a palpable spirit of free speech, solidarity and community; holding space for citizens to tell their own stories in their own words.

Born in Nottingham to a Swiss, Italian mother & German, Parsi (Iranian-Indian) father, Dalal spent her formative years in Birmingham and is currently based in London.

Human Stories curator Kaia Charles says, “The Unreported Uprisings exhibition is a powerful missive, capturing the spirit of the right to strike. Inès Elsa Dalal’s body of work at NOW Gallery reflects brave, diverse communities galvanising in solidarity with workers’ rights. In our charged and rapidly evolving political landscape, Dalal has dedicated her work to documenting movements within social justice. She combines documentary and street portraiture to photograph in a human-centred, tender way. We are pleased to be able to bring that to life and create a contemplative space for audiences to learn, pause and reflect.”

Inès Elsa Dalal says, “‘Unreported Uprisings’ is born from an urgency to show solidarity: respect for striking workers through actively advocating their demands to be met is central to this exhibition. Unfair pay causes unsafe working conditions. These are real, live, ongoing issues millions are confronted by on a daily basis across our nation. Wages are the lowest they’ve been since 2008. The persistence of these injustices is relentless. We must take the trajectory of history into our own hands, we must take action for meaningful change to occur.”

In 2024, Dalal is continuing to work on self-initiated projects centred on social justice, presently advocating workers’ rights to rest and fair pay.

NOW Gallery is thrilled to be working with a number of renowned archives including Getty Images and Kinolibrary to contextualise the UK’s long history of speaking out for fair workers’ rights.