Oscar Marzaroli: Tenements to Towerblocks

Marzaroli’s subject matter focuses on the urban decay and regeneration of Glasgow in the 1960s: the men of shipyards and steelworks, street life and children. Described as a documentary photographer, Marzaroli engaged and moved amongst his subjects as an equal, a participant. The photographs record the radical changes that took place in Glasgow during this time both socially and architecturally, demolition of tenements and the construction of new housing schemes in the city. Upon his return to Glasgow in 1959 he saw the city he grew up in changing: ‘A place like the Gorbals was a microcosm of what was happening in all the great cities of the world. It was exciting a location as any could have been.’.

Marzaroli was of Italian birth and arrived in Scotland in 1935, aged 2.  He attended Glasgow School of Art for a short period and undertook an apprenticeship as a photo-journalist in Europe and London before returning to Glasgow in 1959.  His livelihood was making films and alongside this he recorded Glasgow's evolution through the 1960s and 70s.