Part of my core being rebels against the Picturesque.  As an aesthetic, I find it false, imprisoning and rather obvious. Instead, my eye is often drawn to that, which some might deem as ugly or a visual blight.

Industry falls nicely into this category and is something that I find rather visually appealing. Removing any thoughts of capitalism, destruction of the environment or the retreating countryside – it has a beauty in its formal, bleak and constructed nature, sometimes virtually approaching a macabre aura surrounding it. Factories, power stations, refineries, car parks – I love them all.

As mentioned in the past – everything is and can be beautiful if gazed on in the right way (see my post I never saw an ugly thing in my life).

So to our story for today. The other week I was driving along in the Mach when I almost veered off the road in excitement, as out of the left of my peripheral, the huge edifice of an abandoned power station loomed into glorious gaze.  Distractions such as this are a danger to me when I am driving as I desperately try to peak a glimpse whilst maintaining full driving capability.

On this particular day, there were three fold of such distractions: 1) an enormous wind farm in the distance 2) a small glimpse of Thanet Earth (Europe’s biggest Greenhouse) and 3) an abandoned power station.  To say I was in visual heaven would be an understatement.

Now, you might think as a Photographer I would screech to a halt, leap to attention and start snapping. But no. No my mind works in a very singular manner – I was driving to somewhere to achieve a particular goal and therefore to deviate off this would be unthinkable.

Luckily enough for me, the Good Lady Hannah was sitting beside me and began her semi-regular torrent of persuasion that I should not exist in such a one dimensional brain space and act with the spontaneity that graces the great and good. A marginal tussle of stubbornness occurred after which I relented and parked up in a questionable lay-by.

Hurrah for GLH is all I can say because as luck would have it, I was armed with my old steed – the Mamiya C3 Professional. This was my first ever medium format camera – a beautiful twin lens, square format beast that served me well for the best part of 18 months.  Recently, I have cracked the old girl out once more for a new project I am a working on, to be revealed at a later date. Needless to say for now, the project is Black & white, medium format and Square – hence I was well prepared for this chance encounter.

So I shot a few rolls and was very pleased I did, because the Power Station looked as good on film as it did through my peepers and the side window. Below are a few of the more interesting shots.

As a brief side – please forgive the slightly poor quality of the images, but they have been scanned from negs at not the greatest resolution on a rather dusty neg scanner.  Also they were shot on a fairly old film which I suspect had started to deteriorate – but it is all I had!

ABANDONED POWER STATION AS SHOT ON THE OLD STEED

PAGE FROM MY JOURNAL WHERE I WAS RECORDING VISITOR NUMBERS

A couple of Saturdays past, I spent the day in the belly of the overbearing mother.  Perhaps that is too abstract, rather I spent the day in the belly of a shipping container. Perhaps still too vague, I feel I should step backwards and address this from a place that bears a greater background!

I was lucky enough to meet one of the co-founders and curators of LIDO, a gallery space in St Leonards adjoining a set of artist studios.  From what might appear a modest establishment from the outside, LIDO has an impressively ambitious program of exhibitions, events and commissioned art works which puts pay to the ‘I’d never get the funding’ attitude of the rest of us.

The man in question was Dan Howard-Birt, a painter and curator who – as coincidence would have it, was born in the fair town of Aylesbury where I myself hail from (but we won’t dwell on that as I haven’t yet had a chance to bemoan the delights of the town with Dan himself).  The story of our meeting is also irrelevant, apart from to say I was surprised but delighted when I received a call from him asking if I would be able to invigilate part of a show he was involved in as part of Hastings annual Coastal Currents festival.

The project in question very much appealed to my sensibilities and so, without much further of a do, I found myself one Saturday morning in a rather blustery September, walking along the seafront of St Leonards to LIDO and was soon confronted by the structure that would be my home for the day.

The structure in question was the first outdoor sculptural commission by LIDO, created by artist Dylan Shipton and entitled ‘The Overbearing Mother’.  LIDO itself is so named because it fronts onto the site of the now grassed over outdoor swimming pool that once proudly boasted its way onto the seafront site.  At its conception the original Lido was massive – on a scale only matched by Blackpool’s and sadly, this grandeur was also it’s demise as the eyes of Hastings & St Leonards council were sadly much bigger than the belly of the public prepared to visited.

So now what was once an epic mass of water and bathers is now a large grassed area used mainly by dog walkers and Sunday Strollers.  Without the honor of a gallery space now named after it – it would to many, pass completely unnoticed.  What remains of the structure are two large concrete platforms, which rise up unannounced from their now inconspicuous surroundings. It is on one of these platforms that The Overbearing Mother sat through the lion share of September.

The sculpture consists of a beached shipping container that is encased in a Day-Glo protuberance on each side.  On the west face this forms a sort of veranda that appears as if it has something to announce or present.  To the East, a large advertising hoarding reaches up above the container shouting its message to the onlookers of Hastings and the sea beyond.  Shipton commissioned Ben Fitton to create the sign for the location, which in barely legible font reads: “The gap that has been left by the departure of / will soon enough make itself felt”.  Interestingly and I think intentionally, the banner was loosely fitted and so when a particularly aggressive gust of coastal breeze came along, the words came free of their tetherings and flew out to sea, perhaps to be one day to take on new meaning as they are found by a confused fisherman.

The sculpture is perhaps a comment on the changing use of space and surroundings.  The whole structure emerging from one of the few remaining aspects of the Lido to still exist and the advertising hoarding itself paying testament to considerations on how, as our landscape changes, and perhaps when things that were once important are removed or replaced, we only then become fully aware of their impact, resonance and relevance in our environment.

And so Shiptons Overbearing Mother takes on these metaphors – with its bright nu-rave coloured and complex shapes being spun out of a shipping container as if it had always been there but stood unnoticed.  How apt also that the sign that ties the piece together with its surroundings was eventually lost to the winds.

This work is very much a continuation of his previous incarnations – where his sculptural pieces seem to be a comment on the properties and limitations of space by constructing architectural shapes

THE OVERBEARING MOTHER 4 (2011)

and frames.  Whilst sometimes standalone, they often appear site specific and take inspiration and message from their surroundings.  Especially interesting are his tape works whereby large bodies of form, colour and shape are made entirely from an assortment of different tapes (see them online here).  Looking at previous works in context, it is almost as if Shipton is exploring and investigating the possibilities of a potential futuristic landscape with strange developments and structures emerging from their surroundings – both challenging and accepting the expected norms at the same time.

But, I know what is going on behind those slightly glazed eyes – your mind is questioning how I ended up spending a day inside the mother.  Very well (you are saying), we are interested in hearing about this sculpture (you continue), but your title drew us in and now you are leaving us dangling with curiosity (you finish).

Well, The Overbearing Mother had a double life and four weekends in a row, played host to a micro cinema, which nestled in its belly.  This part of the instillation was organised by Christine Gist at Interface and was a brilliant complement to the sculpture itself and the concept a stroke of genius.  The idea being that on each of the 8 days it was open, a different artist would be asked to curate a selection of films to be shown.

Stepping through the heavy blue doors of the container, the un-expecting visitor was confronted by a black curtain, which, upon opening revealed the secrets behind.  A large screen at the far end onto which a projector beamed at full capacity.  A set of wooden benches around the perimeter for film perusal and the usual ample selection of information and intrigue.

Over the different weekends, artists choose a huge array of different films – some showing just one long feature, others opting for numerous shorts.  The day I was asked to be ringmaster to this celluloid cinema, it was the turn of painter and co-founder of Lido, Jacqui Hallum to be the selector.  Jacqui selected three different films to show on rotation, all quite different from one another – but all equally brilliant.

THE OVERBEARING MOTHER 2 (2011)

As a quick and interesting (to me anyway) sideline – on quizzing Jacqui about her film selection, she told me that she had initially come across the films or their directors on Channel Four some years back.  It turned out that this inspiration had emerged off the back of Channel Four’s long time deceased late night short film seasons, which until this point I had completely forgotten about.  This sparked a string of memories for me of staying up to late obsessively watching the short films with my brother and being both amazed at how strange they were and wowed at the skill and variety of the film makers.  For a memory I had until then forgotten, it seemed to resonate as having been an important part of my creative education!

Unlike Jacqui, I wasn’t wise enough to commit the names of the directors I liked to paper and my ailing memory was never going to retain such information – but perhaps with a bit of cunning research, I can be reacquainted with some of my favourites from this period.

THE OVERBEARING MOTHER 3 (2011)

The day in question was a windy and slightly gloomy one, the sort of day where the seafront comes alive and everything feels more dramatic than it perhaps is.  So being in the trailer was no different, as the wind pounded the sides and flapped the curtain into a gentle sway, it sounded like there was a full blown gale outside the confines of the cosy cinema.  Of course, being in a metal crate it sounded far worse than it was, but this added to the experience of feeling somewhere unique in a refuge against the harsh world outside.

This also complemented Jacqui’s choice of films delightfully, as each one was slightly edgy and uncanny in its own right, whilst maintaining enough of a vein of dark humour to keep them from the dangerous precipice of severe paranoid viewing.

First up was Jan Svankmajer’s Food.  A brilliantly inventive film that uses stop motion animation using real actors and some cunning use of plasticine prosthetics.  The film is split into 3 parts – Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner and follows the stories of sets of diners eating their meal and often much of their surroundings (including their co-eaters!). Dark, surreal and amusing (in a Czech sort of a way!) and expertly filmed and put together.  I have seen some of his work before and would highly recommend checking it out. To get you started, here is part 1:

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Next was Andreas Samland with Tag 26 which follows the fortunes of two lone survivors of an undisclosed biological world wrecking super hazard! Without giving too much away, the film touches on raw aspects of humanity and how people would deal with such a situation but again in a rather surreal fashion.  Coming in at 18 minutes long – amazingly the film was put together for around 7000 Euro, which doesn’t show from the clever direction of Samland.

Last but not least on the triple bill was a film called Kitchen Sink by Alison Maclean.  This is a kind of urban nightmare scenario with some loose overtones of Frankenstein influence.  Essentially, a giant ball of hair and gunk from a woman’s kitchen sink gets transformed into a real life man!  Imagine that.  Well, watch the film and you don’t need to.  Funny enough, I thought this film was quite amusing, but a few of the watching visitors said it was the most disturbing to them.  Does that mean I am warped or they are wimps…who can say?  Shot in black and white and filmed with an interesting sense of mystery and suspense, it is no wonder the film went on to win 8 awards at Cannes. Watch the full 14 minute film on Vimeo below…

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All in all – a good day out was had by all and probably especially by me.  The cinema proved popular with those who visited it and was rather snug once inside.  The odd thing was how natural one felt sitting on a makeshift bench, in a shipping container, on a windy Saturday afternoon – watching strange films.  One kind visitor even bequested me with a clutch of apples (later transformed into an Apple & Cider cake as well as a fine crumble) for being the guardian of her bike for the duration of her stay.

If you are in the area, check the LIDO website for their current exhibitions and projects and pay them a visit. www.lidoprojects.com

THE OVERBEARING MOTHER 1 (2011)

So given the new move to new terratories I thought it would be apt to break my visual silence with a couple of images from my first explorations of what Hastings has to offer.

INTERLUDE – visual silence?  Is that physically or metaphysically possible?  Can one have silence in relation to something that does not intrinsically pocess sound in the first place?  Perhaps my scentence should have read: visual blindness?

ROOF TOP VIEW FROM FUNICULAR RAILWAY (2011) - Is it sad that at the tended age of thirty something I find the prospect of a ride on the Funicular railway mind numbingly exciting? Well...I do - you get a great view of Hastings old town too!

Entering the heady realm of living in a new area is a bizare experience for me – as someone who generally sees the world as a series of photographs, I find that the more familiar I am with an area so the more micro the images become that I see around me.  Brighton is a firm example of this as I knew its streets and buildings rather well, after 10 years of enveloping myself in its dirty glory!  Instead of seeing new vista’s of interest, I would see a new stain on the floor, a interesting coloured brick in a wall or a comic item discarded amongst the pavement debris.

So starting to place foot onto virgin pavement in Hastings, I have suddenly found the visual stimulous has become more macro again as the whole environment and landscape is new and unfamiliar.  This is exciting. I am, you could argue, excited. So much so that I am contemplating embarking on yet another project (to sit nicely alongside the myriad of mounting projects I have started but yet to finish!), which is soley about my initial exoploration, inspirations and sightings in, around and of Hastings.

BE PREPARED FOR A HASTINGS RELATED PUN FEST

Perhaps, through this series of photographs, I could visually conquer Hastings (1) and battle (2) with a new set of influences and images. You could even argue that I am already finding new potential images are hurtling towards my eye like an arrow (3). The potential for visual exploration is boundless and, Will_I_Am  (4) excited.

Sorry.  No really, I am sorry.  I have brought shame upon myself – BUT in self defence, I felt the need to erradicate all Battle of Hastings related puns out of my system so they will never have to grace the pages again! I understand that it is no good apologising to you know, as, for you at least – it is too late.  You have already suffered at the hand of my obismal efforts at comic whit.  But, I hope you understand the mental need I had to get through it early on!  I particularly wish to express shame for pun 4 – which, even for me, was sub-standard!

DAY IN THE PARK (2011) - Arguably my first official Hastings Fun Day involved the annual park gathering. Bunting and deck chars festooning a park are the best way to spend a sunny weekend!

That is it …a small and pathetic relay of Hastings related images to wet your whistle before the onslaught begins!

RUBBISH INNER CITY (2009)

IT JUST TAKES A MINUTE TO BAG IT AND BIN IT

Just a brief post for now – but got loads lined up in drafts – so will be sending a barrage your way soon.

First up – this picture illustrates myself.  I am a rubbish blogger.  I have neglected you for too long.  I am sorry.

BRIGHTON’S BIN MEN ON STRIKE

Moving on, took this on the morning of the first day of the recent strike in our fair city at the start of November.  (more info on the Argus website here).

I wasn’t that interested in the strike to be fair – maybe they had a good reason.  Maybe they didn’t.  Happens so regularly kind of don’t pay attention any more (is that bad?).

What did interest me was the scene above.  It was the first day of the strike and this was the amount of rubbish left at one recycling point at Preston Park at 8am in the morning.  Thats just insane.  More than being annoyed about a strike – we should be disturbed at the amount of rubbish that amounts in such a small amount of time.

I cannot believe in today’s climate (forgive the play on words) – when the enviroment is such a concern, how little people seem to care.  Despite all the evidence, publicity and chat – people are too lazy to try and actively reduce the amount of waste they produce.

For me, the strike made me question our policy towards waste, rather than get upperty about the workers striking.  Personally I think we should start penalising people who don’t recycle.  Penalising people who produce more than an acceptable amount of waste and start to introcude a tough stance on people who just don’t care of bother.

Still – little chance that will happen as the government and most political parties are too scared to ever make a significant stance on anything as they are too pre-occupied with trying to please everyone.

Bollocks to pleasing everyone – some people are just wrong and those who make no effort to protect the planet are high on that list.

RUBBISH IN A CITY MAKES A RUBBISH INNER CITY

This was the recent slogan of a campaign to stop a recycling plant being built at the old meat market in Hollingbury, Brighton.  The slogan was a bit naff and the whole campaign was plain stupid – but thought their slogan was appropriate in a way.  Rubbish in a city does make a rubbish inner city – but not due to strikes or building recycling plants – but because individuals refuse to take personal responsibility for their actions.

Rant over.