"This young man was born in Lyon, the most miserable town in France, he will be perfect for Leeds”

Stepping into the brightly lit third floor gallery of the Leeds City Museum, one might be forgiven for feeling an overwhelming sense of being a passer by- wandering the streets of a Leeds long since gone. Indeed, nostalgia seems to creep up on you as you witness the blown up black and white prints of the city post-war, brought back to the present only by the sprinkling of modern day photographs.

And this was exactly the effect intended. For Marc Riboud, the photographer responsible for the exhibition- entitled ‘A Lasting Moment‘- and its content , the aim is to steer the viewer down a plethora of ’streets’ ,each lending itself to an area of life in 1954 and 2004.

While many students would be happy to sing the praises of Leeds as a cultural, fashionable and diverse landmark of the North, it was only by default that Riboud came to work here. Sent for his first professional assignment, Riboud’s mentor stated that “This young man was born in Lyon, the most miserable town in France, he will be perfect for Leeds”- an interesting motive if ever one was needed.
But his work does not disappoint; with evocative stills of industrial landscapes, life in suburbia and working in the factories, Riboud captures accurately a time where life seemed far simpler in this collection and emphasises it further by his characteristically crisp black and white images. The exhibition also holds additional importance, purely for its documentation of the developing landscapes, women breaking further into the mould of industry and signs of the developing concept of people as consumers.

Many of us would find it hard to grasp dwelling in a pre-technological time and by beautiful contrast the photographs displaying life fifty years later in 2004 show how life has become seemingly easier. Aside from the juxtaposition of colour with the black images, the scenes seem somehow more filled with buildings, figures and shapes. Furthermore, one aspect which soon becomes a clear sign of modern life in the collection is the blur created in a number of the images by fast moving objects and people.
In fact, there is almost an element of sadness in the loss of traditional ways of life as speed and the bustle of modern living are seen to replace the steady pace cleverly shown in the vintage prints Riboud injected so much “passion, a passion closer to an obsession” in to.

Adding another dimension to the already life-size surroundings and prints, audio commentaries from the people contained in the 1954 images also accompany the collection and provide insightful yet somewhat melancholy recollections of the time- “worlds away from how we live now” one lady declares on the tape.

Even if one has no particular link to this period, thanks to the clever structure of the exhibition and the way it so poignantly depicts the development the city and its citizens, ‘A Lasting Moment’ somehow begs for everyone to take a trip down memory lane. Reflect, as Riboud wanted, on both past and present and be prepared to get truly lost in the streets of Leeds.