According to The Guardian’s recent ‘That’s me in the picture’ feature, Jackie Vaughan was just eight years old when she was photographed by Janet Mendelsohn for her photo essay of inner-city Birmingham. It was taken on the wasteland at the back of Vaughan’s house.

Renowned photographer Mendelsohn, who was a student of Birmingham University at the time, mainly focused her photo essay on Varna Road in Balsall Heath – a well known red light district, and the women that worked there. The area has since been completely regenerated with houses being torn down, and new houses being built in their place.

Vaughan says that seeing the image has “sparked a lot of memories” and that she was “over the moon” that the exhibition (at Ikon Gallery) was being advertised on posters, postcards and the backs of buses. She goes on to say, “To me, it’s not just an old photograph: it’s me, and I feel really proud of that. And it means I’ll be able to show my grandchildren how I once lived.”

The photo features in Ikon Gallery’s bestselling book, Janet Mendelsohn: Varna Road which is proving to be very popular indeed, and is still available to purchase with us online.

Image credit: Janet Mendelsohn, The street (c.1968). Black and white photographic print. Courtesy Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham.