Returning to Accademia in 2020 - MA in Fine Art at U.C.L.A.N. through the Covid 19 pandemic proved challenging to say the least. Documentary Photography of my daily walks around the old mill town of Brierfield brought to my attention the problems of our domestic rubbish situation and the wider implications of the Anthropocene. The project began with this old chair discarded on the pavement which took me back to a memory of my Dad returning home with a chair found in a skip, my Mum wasn’t best pleased but the chair stayed and was used for many years.
The town became my ‘Street Gallery’ the discarded items were the exhibits, changing on a regular basis, some daily, others lasted considerably longer.
My Photomontages are a Surreal cut-and-paste study of the found objects from the daily walks around my hometown of Brierfield, throughout the covid 19 lockdown period. A ‘tongue in cheek’ look at human rubbish, also with the serious considerations and implications of the Anthropocene, how we live our life now will have a massive impact on our futures. When we dispose of our unwanted items we don’t generally give a thought to what happens next, where it ends up, and what its effect will be on our world, often rotting and polluting the earth and its rivers.
Photomontages Influenced by the German Expressionists John Heartfield, George Grosz & Hannah Hoch. Who were also founding members of the Berlin Dada Club.
Surreal Landscape.
Ideal home.
Covid 19 winter.
You came here for the sausage rolls.
A beautiful and peaceful space.
Smith & Nephews cotton mill was one of the town’s largest employers until its closure in 2007. The listed building is now being transformed into Northlight Brierfield. The complex offers residential, office spaces, a sports complex, and is also home to the arts organization In-Situ.
My original MA proposal to research my family railway history was put on hold due to the Covid 19 Pandemic.
This photograph depicts my Father Alan Benson on a 9F at Rosegrove Shed where he was employed as a Steam Raiser.
In his later life, he wrote his memoirs on his beloved typewriter, of life around the shed in the days of motive power.
Gathering of Rose Grove MPD men, Dad is second to the right, front row.
