Northumberland museum to become home of photographer Mik Critchlow’s collection

Woodhorn Museum in Northumberland is to open a new gallery dedicated to documentary photographer Mik Critchlow. 

The museum will become the home of Critchlow’s collection from today (March 7 2025), photographer’s 70th birthday, and two years since his passing on his birthday at 68 years old. 

The Coal Town Collection will showcase more than 100 photographs from Critchlow’s Coal Town archive, which first went on display at Woodhorn Museum in 2021, and documents the town’s coalfield communities. 

The Coal Town Collection will also feature personal items on loan from Critchlow’s family, including cameras he collected and used during his career, unseen photographs, and other personal ephemera that provide an insight into the man behind the camera.

Liz Ritson, director of programmes & engagement at Woodhorn Museum, called Critchlow’s collection “one of the most important historical archives we have of the end of deep coal mining in Northumberland.”

The Coal Town Collection will open at Woodhorn Museum in May 2025, with an exact date to be announced. 

From 1 April 2025, North East Museums (formerly Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums) will manage the Woodhorn Museum, alongside Hexham Old Gaol and Morpeth Chantry Bagpipe Museum on behalf of Northumberland County Council.

Speaking about the Coal Town exhibition in 2021, Critchlow said: “For the past 44 years I have photographed the town, people and surrounding areas of Ashington, Northumberland, the town in which I was born, educated and still live.

“After all these many years, I feel that I’m bringing these people back to life again, back home where they all belong.”