Andy Roe grew up in East Hull. As a teenager, on the weekends, in the early 80s he began to socialise in the HU3/Spring Bank area and especially in Silhouette. Silhouette was infamous across Hull. It was described as a dangerous place. Andy rebelled against this and the advice of parents and decided to learn for himself. I came to understand gay rights, struggles within the community, the impact of AIDS, how government policy is often wrong and how those in power often lie and use fear as a form of control. In 2023 he compiled a book “Silhouette Club – a queer sort of Paradise” featuring stories, photographs and flyers of those who visited. Andy now lives in Oxford and is part of a large Facebook community ‘Silhouette Club in Hull, Spring Bank, 1980s’.
My grandad died and I got left £200 pounds. I spent 100 on cars and fines and the rest on a Chinon CE4 35mm camera. Lots of people were using Instamatics but I had this huge thing. I took it to Silhouette and people used to say what you doing with that thing? I lived on Savery Street then, next door lived Mr Redford and he had an outhouse in the back yard with the windows blocked out. I asked him what he was doing in here and he said, “come on in”. Well, it was like going into Aladdin’s cave. The red light was on which made a light go off in my head. I got into black and white photography in that moment. I set up a darkroom in the bathroom at home and annoyed the family “Andy we need the Loo! No, just 20 more seconds for the fixer to work!” It’s weird isn’t it the triggers in life? Mr Redford was one, taking mushrooms another, going to Silhouette another!
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