PAN readers in and around London over the winter months are in for a treat with this exhibition of Roger Mayne photographs in a first ever show dedicated to the portrayal of football in his work.
On the walls at the OOF Gallery located in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will be original prints of some of his most notable and iconic photographs.
• Roger Mayne is one of the most significant and influential photographers in British history. His images captured the poverty and hardship of inner city life in West London in the late 1950s with a rare and touching sensitivity and tenderness. The people he photographed – especially the children – are full of joy, fun, energy and life. And they are absolutely obsessed with football.
• OOF is the world’s only contemporary art gallery in a football stadium, situated in Warmington House, a listed building in the heart of Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
• OOF is also a biannual magazine that looks at the relationship between art and football.
OOF told PAN: ‘The game (and here it is a game, not a sport) appears over and over in his photography: kids in shorts dive to save wild shots on hard concrete, leap into the sky to head the ball to a mate, dribble down the middle of the road. These are images of kids at play, doing what they do best. It’s children living totally free, expressing themselves, even in unimaginably deprived circumstances. They are photographs of joy against the odds. Much of Mayne’s most important work has football at its heart. Through his eyes, it represents something we all seem to eventually forget: the simple ecstasy of youth.’
Details: Exhibition runs 28 November 2025 to 1 March 2026 at OOF Gallery, N17. (The gallery will be closed from 21 December to 14 January inclusive.)
Admission is free. Use entrance for the Tottenham Experience at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Open Mon, Thu, Fri, 10-5, Sat 11-5 & Sun 12-4. Closed Tue & Wed. Opening hours are subject to change on event days.