In 1977 a young Jewish youth worker from Manchester called Shloimy Alman started photographing the remnants of Jewish life in the streets of his youth around Cheetham Hill.
Shloimy wandered around the area repeatedly, documenting local characters, businesses, synagogues and Jewish institutions. His collection of over 300 colour slides taken during this period now remains as a unique record of a disappeared world.
In 1978 Shloimy immigrated to Israel, and his photographs of Jewish Manchester and London remained in a locked cupboard at his home until May 2019 when writer and oral historian Rachel Lichtenstein visited him and scanned the images.
Shloimy’s photographs of Jewish London were shown to great acclaim in 2019 in London. Shloimy’s photographs of lost Jewish Manchester have never been publically seen before; revealed for the first time in this fascinating exhibition.
The exhibition includes access to the Memory Map of Jewish Manchester an interactive website, which maps stories, histories and memories of the Jewish community who once lived in the Cheetham Hill, Strangeways and Hightown areas of North Manchester between the two world wars. This can also be accessed online.
Part of PHM’s programme exploring migration. Following an open call for submissions, the 2020-2021 community exhibitions programme was selected by a Community Programme Team made up of people whose lives have been shaped by migration.
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