Rudder Indicators

Newhall St, Birmingham, June 25th
Full set of 25 photos

Sunday my photographic subject couldn’t have been more different with a trip to the former Museum of Science and Industry in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter. The museum was closed in 1997 to make way for the spangly new Thinktank at Millennium Point (which I still haven’t been to yet for some reason) and the listed redbrick parts are about to be converted into some mixed-use business/apartment thing like so much of the city. Before this gutting an outfit known as the Museum of Lost Heritage had the inspired notion of opening the shell up for the public to walk around with a number of walks and exhibits created from the remnants by artists Alistair Grant and Stuart Mugridge.

I must confess to not bothering with the Art side of things, preferring to make my own interpretations with my camera than view through someone else’s eyes so I can’t judge whether their efforts were a success, but if such artistic trappings are needed to open such buildings up then so be it.

As you know I have an interest in decaying buildings. I think this was first triggered by seeing a recently emptied shop on a high street with the fittings removed and the shadow of commerce revealed. I then went on to close down a couple of branches of Waterstone’s in London, again stripping away the spectacle and revealing the scars of history on the building. (Some photos, specifically of the Charing Cross Road branch closure, can be found amongst my L’Espion set from 2002 if you fancy a dig.) The facade we place on our environment is so temporary and fleeting and often the buildings are too, quickly torn down and turned to rubble. Where they are kept and augmented to new uses the ghosts remain, hidden behind the new facade. There is no permanence but still there is permanence.

Or some shit.

Anyway, the Museum had all this in spades. A visible history of 100-odd years and the decay of nine years neglect. It was beautiful and awe inspiring. I just wish I’d had a foresight to tell others about it before I went.

25 photos made the cut, which was pleasing since I was shooting in dark rooms without a flash. I also shot some film and they’ll be online in a week or so.