Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on December 2011

A native of Bristol, England, photographer Andrew “Beezer” Beese documented the birth of the UK hip-hop movement there amid a highly politicized 1980s Thatcherite England. His first book, Wild Dayz, presented hundreds of photographs taken by the then fledgling lensman, who also spent time shooting contemporaneous protests in Spain. Voices! offers an overview of his 1980s output in a time of social, economic and political turmoil. The title refers to voices of music from soundsystems, voices on protesters’ placards, and voices of street artists’ graffiti.

Diesel Art Gallery, through Jan 29 (listing).