'A photo of us is now at the Tate - it's surreal'

Three men featured in a photograph taken 35 years ago said it was "surreal" that the image was part of a major exhibition in London.

Mark De-Lisser, Edmund Rudder and Marcellous Copeland were photographed by award-winning photographer Ingrid Pollard at Tulse Hill School in 1989.

Pollard was invited by an English teacher at the south London school to take the portraits of her students a year before it closed.

The photo of the boys, who are now in their 50s, is on display at the Tate Britain from Thursday as part of The 80s: Photographing Britain exhibition.

The display looks back on the years Margaret Thatcher was in power and examines how photographers responded to changing social and economic conditions.

"I’m very proud to see the pictures here and also what it represents," said Mr Copeland.

"It represents what Tulse Hill School was about - a lot of differences but everyone pulling together.

"It was a fantastic time, a difficult, but fantastic time."

It is the first time Pollard's photos of pupils from the boys' school have ever been exhibited in the UK.

Pollard had said she was trying to trace those who appeared in the series of photographs she took at Tulse Hill School.

Mr De-Lisser, Mr Rudder and Mr Copeland discovered they featured in the exhibition via a BBC London news story.

“Somebody sent me a message and said ‘is this you?’," Mr De-Lisser said.

“I started getting messages from all different people as well," Mr Rudder added. “Some have contacted us that we haven’t spoken to in years."

"We still have friendships with some of the people that were in those pictures," Mr Copeland added.

Thinking back to their education at Tulse Hill, Mr Copeland described it as "absolute maniacal chaos".

“It was pretty tough. But within that, we had really really good teachers that stayed with us, and were really committed."

Mr Rudder said that the school had previously been referenced as a "school of hard knocks".

"I don’t want to say we had to fight to survive – but there are some people that did," he said.

"We had some fun times and we were privileged enough to do that.

"I can’t say that for everybody, but definitely for us."

Now, seeing the images in the gallery, he said it felt "really surreal".

Pollard was reunited with Mr De-Lisser, Mr Rudder and Mr Copeland on Tuesday, ahead of the exhibition launch.

She said it was fantastic to meet the men in the photographs, 35 years on.

She described them in the photograph as being "in a very delicate stage of being boys and men at the same time".

"You can see their faces are the same," she said. "They seem much taller than I remember.

"I don't know if we passed in the street, if I would have recognised them.

"But here, in the group of three, they seem really happy."

The 80s: Photographing Britain is at the Tate Britain from 21 November to 5 May 2025

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