Doctorate for icon of black British photography

A photographer who got started through a desire to "document the struggles of the black community in Britain" has been awarded an honorary doctorate by Birmingham City University (BCU).

Jamaican-born Dr Vanley Burke, known for his iconic photos such as Boy with a Flag, has already been awarded two honorary doctorates but he says the latest award means the most.

A Birmingham resident from the age of 14, Dr Burke explained: "It's from my hometown, so it means more."

He said he began to explore photography when he moved to the UK in 1965 to be with his parents, who ran a grocery store in Handsworth.

He began compiling a huge bank of images depicting black communities in Birmingham, and it is his contribution to the city that the university has recognised.

The Vanley Burke Archive is housed at the Library of Birmingham.

The "Godfather of black British photography" later travelled to South Africa to document life there following the release of Nelson Mandela.

He also appeared as a guest on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, received the Paul Hamlyn Award for his contribution to visual art, and had one of his images inspire the title and cover of a UB40 album, Geffery Morgan.

The 73-year-old said: "I started taking photographs of anything and everything. It was to serve our purpose from an historical perspective."

He explained: "If you are constantly being told by your schoolteacher that you, as a people, had contributed nothing to human civilisation, it is not good to hear.

"I wanted to address this issue. I decided we needed to write our own history, to document our own history, because the life of black people portrayed in the press wasn't the life I was experiencing.

"I knew what I was doing was important, but it was never about me. It was about us as a people."

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