The time is now

A new book celebrating unseen and underappreciated street photography from across the globe is a meticulously curated masterpiece. Amy Davies speaks to Matt Stuart to find out more

-  Amy Davies

Reclaim the Street is an impressively weighty tome. Its pages show off a breadth and depth of street photography work from a range of sources, many of which are hidden – or at the very least underappreciated.

Curated by street photography stalwart Matt Stuart and edited by another big name in the field, Stephen McClaren, it’s an attempt to shine a light on different facets of the genre in an engaging and well-thought-through collection.

Speaking to Matt, it’s clear he’s incredibly proud of the work that has gone into putting Reclaim the Street together. The term ‘labour of love’ is perhaps overused, but here it seems to be wholly accurate – with roughly four years of almost constant work required to finish the final manuscript.

He explains, ‘I realised there were people all over the world engaging in the activity that we call street photography; many were unheard, unseen, unsung. Although this isn’t a global sweep, it’s a collection of photographers shooting in different ways and different styles. I was aware that literally half the world has never had their work published in a street photography book before and this needed to be addressed. Especially as the work was so bloody great.