Produced between 1964 and 1966, Dundee – A City in Transition was Joseph McKenzie’s first major photographic study after moving to the city to teach at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art. Comprising 441 photographs arranged as a series of documentary essays, the project explored the people, industries and communities of Dundee during a period of profound social and physical change.

The study examined subjects including Women of Dundee, People in Jute, Men and Locomotives, Death of a Station, Impressions of the City and the construction of the Tay Road Bridge. Together, these essays created a compelling portrait of a city balancing its industrial heritage with a rapidly changing future.

Exhibited in 1966 to mark the opening of the Tay Road Bridge, Dundee – A City in Transition remains one of the most comprehensive photographic records of the city’s transformation and laid the foundation for McKenzie’s lifelong documentation of Dundee and its people which he continued to photograph until 1986.