the real desmonds
joan byrne

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Award-winning local photographer, Joan Byrne, has been documenting life in Peckham for over a decade. At DKUK Byrne will be presenting a series of photographs taken in former local barbershop, Desmond’s, which inspired Channel Four’s longest-running sitcom of the same name. Desmond’s traded on Bellenden Road around the corner from DKUK for over 30 years, operating as a social centre as much as a hairdresser until its closure in 2010.

Joan Byrne has exhibited at the Globe Theatre (2006), the Asylum in Peckham (2011), Nolia’s Gallery (2012), Bankside Gallery (2010 & 2012) Gabriel Fine Art Gallery (2015) and at Tate Modern for ‘The Elephant Vanishes’ pop-up show (2006). She won the inaugural Southwark Snapper of the Year Award and was awarded Third Prize at Dulwich Picture Gallery’s Bicentenary Exhibition. Her photos have been published in 20×20 magazine, the Guardian and Peckham Peculiar. Byrne is a member of South London Women Artists, and is a published writer and poet. Her Peckham photos have been published in ‘Feckham Peckham’ (2013).