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An Elegy, The Blast Furnace, South Gare. Specification; 32 2/8 x 40 1/5 Gelatin silver print from negative Welded box frame patinated from Redcar Steel @royalacademyarts ————————————————————————————— South Gare, is an ongoing project exploring the site of a former blast furnace in the North East of England. At the height of British industrialisation there were 91 blast furnaces within a 10 mile radius of the River Tees, but by the end of the 1970s the Redcar Blast Furnace was the only one left operational. Sitting at the mouth of the River Tees, known locally as South Gare, the site operated as the second largest in Europe until it was decommissioned and later demolished in 2022 after years of abandonment.  Once fuelling the region with a sense of pride and collective identity the work investigates a section of artificial land, constructed from five million tons of by-product from the neighbouring blast furnace.  Surveying this space as a basis to explore regions industrial heritage, the work seeks to demonstrate the collective loss felt amongst the community stripped of its societal worth undergoing physical dismantling.

The integration of raw materials from the site in the final presentation of the work draws on the labour-intensive methods of industrial manufacturing practiced at the former steelworks. Specification; 32 2/8 x 40 1/5 Gelatin silver print from negative Welded box frame patinated from Redcar Steel An Elegy, The Blast Furnace, South Gare and Foreboding, The Blast Furnace, South Gare are currently on show @royalacademyarts until the 18th August

Process in reverse …

Test strips made earlier this year @northlondondarkroom in preparation for 2 pieces of work currently on show @royalacademyarts

WIP, 2 pieces currently on show @royalacademyarts 18th June - 18th August.