Exhibition

Jill Furmanovsky ‘Rebels And Renegades’ - Stirling Photography Festival

25 Aug 2026 - 26 Sep 2026

Tolbooth

Jill Furmanovsky’s first portrait assignment was in 1974, photographing a young Stevie Wonder for the Melody Maker when one of their regulars was ill. She developed a strong working relationship with Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell of Hipgnosis and was invited to document ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ tour in 1974 – her relationship with Pink Floyd and individual band members is still strong and fruitful to this day.

She soon began working with other music publications including Sounds, NME and Record Mirror documenting the shifting tides of music in the form of punk, new wave, ska and reggae with bands such as The Clash, Bob Marley, Generation X, The Ramones, The Police, Madness, Blondie, The Runaways, Joy Division and many more whose images are in the exhibition along with some classic shots of The Slits, and Sid and Nancy in the dressing room at a Ramones concert.

With the launch of The Face and the changing nature of press shots for the industry, the 1980s saw Jill acquiring a studio and a new set of skills, photographing the stars of the new wave such as Boy George, The Beat, Soft Cell, Adam and The Ants, Wham!, Japan, Fine Young Cannibals, Spandau Ballet, emerging female stars such as Joan Armatrading, Kate Bush, Grace Jones, Bjork and Amy Winehouse, alongside established acts like Annie Lennox, Siouxsie (of the Banshees) and Patti Smith. Also included are those seminal influences on the era – Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, Iggy Pop and James Brown. Jill’s work has led to long-term working relationships with the likes of Chrissie Hynde / The Pretenders and Oasis both of whom she directed videos for in the 1990s.

Jill’s book The Moment: 25 Years of Rock Photography (1995) is a seminal work in the genre. Oasis – Was There Then: A Photographic Journey (1997) followed. The book Oasis at Knebworth (2021) was on the Sunday Times bestseller list. In 2025 Thames and Hudson published ‘OASIS – Trying To Find A Way Out Of Nowhere’ – which Jill co-authored with Noel Gallagher.

Jill has won many accolades for her music photography and in 2024 received three awards in 2024 – Amateur Photography Magazine gave her a Lifetime Achievement Award and the digital media and photography platform So.Co’s Image and Music Award made her an official Legend for her contribution to music photography. She was also honoured with the ICON Award at the Abbey Road Music Photography Awards.

A documentary about her remarkable archive, The Invisible Photographer, will be released in 2026 and includes exclusive footage and images from the Oasis Live 2025 tour, and contributions from Sting, Nile Rodgers, Chrissie Hynde, Noel Gallagher, Nick Mason and David Gilmour of Pink Floyd, and others.

The exhibition has been curated by Rock Archive in association with Street Level Photoworks.

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