Amendments to Assignment 2
I visited Bilsthorpe Heritage Museum which is run by ex-miners to understand more about the process of mining and the working lives of miners which enhanced my knowledge of Rufford Colliery. I found this hugely beneficial when visiting Lincoln Camera Club with Hazel to see Chris Upton's Thoresby Colliery presentation.
I planned to print the book with a soft cover in keeping with the local heritage section in Nottinghamshire’s rural and central libraries. Many of the pamphlets are produced by individuals or organisations, and after listening to Chris Upton’s anecdotes about printing, possibly because of the cost involved. Blurb’s soft cover looked quite glossy and I was unsure of the final result, so I simplified the image hoping to make visibility clearer. Having only had hardback books printed in the past, I used Blurb’s discount offer to experiment with printing in both formats, so I can choose the best fit for assessment. The soft cover looked acceptable to me when it came back from Blurb.
This work is now more conversational between people and the land rather than a collection of photographs where the reader has to muddle on through their own.
Assignment 2 Rework
Amendments to Assignment 2
Following research around Nicky Bird's work, linking the past with the present and streamlining the subject seemed the best way forward. I revisited the pit landscape, walked around the village several times with print outs of the photos I had collected to source their location, included quotes from people I spoke to and found a poem written at the time of the disaster to raise money for the families.
I visited Bilsthorpe Heritage Museum which is run by ex-miners to understand more about the process of mining and the working lives of miners which enhanced my knowledge of Rufford Colliery. I found this hugely beneficial when visiting Lincoln Camera Club with Hazel to see Chris Upton's Thoresby Colliery presentation.
I planned to print the book with a soft cover in keeping with the local heritage section in Nottinghamshire’s rural and central libraries. Many of the pamphlets are produced by individuals or organisations, and after listening to Chris Upton’s anecdotes about printing, possibly because of the cost involved. Blurb’s soft cover looked quite glossy and I was unsure of the final result, so I simplified the image hoping to make visibility clearer. Having only had hardback books printed in the past, I used Blurb’s discount offer to experiment with printing in both formats, so I can choose the best fit for assessment. The soft cover looked acceptable to me when it came back from Blurb.
This work is now more conversational between people and the land rather than a collection of photographs where the reader has to muddle on through their own.
Assignment 2 Rework
Thoresby Colliery, Chris Upton - Photographer, Lincoln Camera Club, 29/6/2018
Hazel (fellow OCA Photography student) invited me to an evening with her camera club in Lincoln as I am interested in the work of Chris Upton, a local photographer who photographed Thoresby Colliery, Nottinghamshire’s last working coal mine as it prepared for closure.
Chris gave a very informative slideshow presentation covering the camera he used, some of the social aspects of the mine, some of the pitfalls and challenges associated with his project. Hazel and I agreed with his comments, which sounded as though he was voicing what we had experienced through OCA course exercises and assignment work. On revisiting Chris’s work, I found his photos made more sense as I had visited Bilsthorpe Heritage museum and spoken to local ex-miners about the coal mining process. Mining (and the miners strike) is still a very emotive subject which rumbles through mining communities as it split families apart. It was enlightening to hear about financial considerations, promotions offered by book shops, print runs, choices made with printing, media campaigns and exhibitions.
Hazel (fellow OCA Photography student) invited me to an evening with her camera club in Lincoln as I am interested in the work of Chris Upton, a local photographer who photographed Thoresby Colliery, Nottinghamshire’s last working coal mine as it prepared for closure.
Chris gave a very informative slideshow presentation covering the camera he used, some of the social aspects of the mine, some of the pitfalls and challenges associated with his project. Hazel and I agreed with his comments, which sounded as though he was voicing what we had experienced through OCA course exercises and assignment work. On revisiting Chris’s work, I found his photos made more sense as I had visited Bilsthorpe Heritage museum and spoken to local ex-miners about the coal mining process. Mining (and the miners strike) is still a very emotive subject which rumbles through mining communities as it split families apart. It was enlightening to hear about financial considerations, promotions offered by book shops, print runs, choices made with printing, media campaigns and exhibitions.
Tutor feedback from Assignment 2
Overall
Comments
A
thorough, engaging and well-researched submission.
Feedback on assignment
You have themed your images based on: the present (the
nature reserve and Harworth Estate), the present (Colliery Lane, the pit, the
railway, etc.) and mention wanting to concentrate on the tower throughout as a
kind of touch point. You have researched widely, using images from local
library archives, online archives and collected over 130 images from these
sources.
You also discuss your audience and mention showing the
work in its R&D phase to others. You mention the need for an authentic
voice (ex-miners, or the relatives/children etc. of ex-miners) rather than use
pre-existing materials. I agree with you here. It might be useful to record (or
find recorded some first person accounts) from those who worked (or were
related to those who worked) in the colliery and also those who live there now.
These two narratives could usefully be juxtaposed perhaps? I think this would
add a very useful dimension to your research. The landscape tells us a certain
amount – part of the story but of course not all of it. I think it’s important
to ask yourself at the outset of the project: what do I want to say about this
subject? Why? And how exactly am I going to do it. Bear in mind that this is a
story that you could easily go on exploring over many assignments and that it
will be possible to further develop and extend this research for quite a while
if this is of interest to you.
Regarding the images themselves: you have produced
some very effective imagery (lovely image over two pages of the pond rippling
outwards which seems to speak to the idea of history constantly affecting the
landscape). Your postcard strategy work well too. As mentioned, you have used
imagery form the archive, the internet and found image. It might be useful to
separate certain types of images out (ie a series of the postcard images only,
etc) and see how these sit together as a single typology? A common mistake when
photographers are beginning to find their voice is to put all of your ideas
into one piece of work. I’d say there were actually at least three series of
work in this book: the found newspaper clippings, the postcard montages and the
documentary landscapes. Each of the series (perhaps accompanied by a
first-person account or similar) cold make a good series. One is past, one is
present and perhaps another could be future?
This is a good position to be in. You’ve done lots of
research and now is the time to filter that out into separate components. In
its final form, it doesn’t all have to be integrated into one piece of work.
That said, your Blurb submission is well laid out throughout but could do with
some playing about with possible edits. As I’m sure you are aware, meaning is
conferred in the book by the edit not by the single image so bear that in mind
when you are experimenting with different running orders/selections etc.
This is a thoroughly researched and engaging
submission and bodes well for the future. Keep up the good work!
Reference: Roni Horn (re: use of text and landscape
photography) in her series Still Water: https://vimeo.com/64165737
and http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/horn-no-title-p13058
Nick Bird (Re: the representation of working class
communities in the Uk (including mining communities): http://nickybird.com/bookworks/beneath-the-surface-hidden-place-2010/
(Nicky is also involved in the organization Family
Values. They have frequent conferences and you might be interested in attending
as their remit fits your interests well: https://familytiesnetwork.wordpress.com/news/
Coursework
See main
body of the text
Research
See main
body of the text
Learning Log
See main
body of the text
Suggested reading/viewing
See main
body of the text
Pointers for the next assignment / assessment
As
discussed, try to tease apart the different themes presented in book form
(typology of landscapes, one of found images, one of montages) and experiment
with different edits of your narrative. You have lots of material and ideas –
don’t feel you have to evidence all of them in your final assignment. These can
also be explored in exercises etc. too.
Student feedback from Assignment 2
This
was an interesting assignment to put together. I agree with Wendy’s comments
that there is a little of everything in it, which I will start to tease out and
develop into a smaller piece of work. I am interested to see what I could do
with postcards or documentary landscapes. This was a piece of work which
developed as I went along, influenced by some archive exhibitions which I had
seen and so the suggestion to be clear in what I want to say at the beginning
is valid. This was an assignment which kept growing when I found another link.
As
follow up work, I researched Nicky Bird’s work “Beneath the Surface / Hidden
Place (2007-2010). I connected with it and began to think about taking this and
previous assignments to develop in a similar way at a later date. I was
interested in the community involvement and how the work was presented as there
is some archaeology happening locally to me but most tends to be from much older
time periods. I researched the Family Values organization which I have signed
up to as some of the previous posts sound fascinating and may be helpful in
developing my interests.
The
way in which Roni Horn uses words with her images is something which I shall explore
in more detail. Her text seems to work because she encourages the viewers to
read her thoughts at the time of making / taking the photographs; including
anything from questioning the color, informing the viewer of the local history
(including suicides) to poetry or song lyrics. In both these two examples the
photographs and words work well together, so my thoughts around using narrative
would work.
We
spoke of Matt Collishaw’s Thresholds exhibition currently touring in Birmingham
which is relevant to Digital Image and Culture. Although the exhibition is due
to close this weekend, it may travel to the National Media Museum in Bradford,
although there is nothing advertised as yet. I will keep an eye out for it and
hope to attend.
We
briefly discussed the topic I had chosen to look at for my Critical Review for Assignment
3 to which Wendy encouraged me not to become too immersed in it. There is so
much information around the digital self that I think it needs planning very
carefully and sticking to one or 2 case studies in order to keep it concise and
within the word count.
Rework of assignment 2
Following research around Nicky Bird's work, I decided this seemed the best way forward. I revisited the pit landscape and walked around the village several times with print outs of the photos I had collected to find where they were taken from. I collected books containing mining memories from Nottingham Central Library and found some quotes and a poem written at the time of the disaster to raise money for the families.I visited Bilsthorpe Heritage Museum which is run by ex miners to understand more about the process of mining and the working lives of miners which enhanced my knowledge of Rufford Colliery. I found this hugely beneficial when visiting Lincoln Camera Club with Hazel to see Chris Upton's Thoresby Colliery presentation. (See write-up on exhibitions page)
Assignment 2
52°07’.5”N 1°06’47.1”W
This assignment is an archive of the landscape which shaped (and still affects) the village in which I live. Looking through old photographs of the village, I can remember the pit being there when I moved in, and then it disappeared 2 years later. The culture of the mining village changed as the village became a dormitory village serving Nottingham and interest is being rekindled as internet sites and the local history shelves in the libraries host records of nostalgia.
Introduction
In the late 19th century, Rainworth was a hamlet with a scattering of farms with a single road and a Toll House. Public transport did not exist here. Just before the turn of the century came the railway, and with it the Bolsover Colliery Company looking for coal in the illustrious Nottinghamshire / Derbyshire coal fields. A pit was sunk and coal was located. From here on the village developed into a thriving community. Bolsover Colliery Company ensured that houses were built for the pit sinkers and a model village for the miners based on the garden city designs of the time. With the model village came amenities such as a drill hall, miner’s welfare, a school and later shops and a church.
The grid reference of 52°07’.5”N 1°06’47.1”W is located at the end of Colliery Lane, at the point where Harworth Estates erected a barrier preventing access to the old pit. Regeneration and conservation work is carried out in conjunction with The Wildlife Trust who maintain Rainworth Heath. There are two access points into the heath from Colliery Lane and the dismantled railways provide access to a bridleway running through the colliery site. Locals visit these edgelands to walk their dogs, cycle and ride trail bikes, creating desire paths across the landscape.
This assignment is an archive of the landscape which shaped and still affects the village in which I live. A very distant memory recalls the images of the towers, partly because I had no connection with the pit. Through my research I have walked across the landscape many times, trying to piece together the enormity and domination of the main village economy which was such a principal factor in village life and now only the odd scars on the landscape remain. Discussion with ex-miner colleagues and colleagues whose husbands were miners, the varied source material which is being collated online, the local history section of the library and the token collection box in Tesco’s hoping to be selected for a community mining memorabilia project suggested that enough time has passed for people to look back on the mining industry with nostalgia. With the suggestion of a mine in Pennsylvania re-opening to mine coal in June 2017, perhaps the passion for coal mining is not dead, but the Environment Act in 1995 was really the start of monitoring air pollution. Nottinghamshire coal was notorious for being quite smoky, perhaps lending itself to use in the steel industry.
The process
Coal mining books line the local history shelves in the town library of which nothing covers Rufford Colliery. Two booklets detail images from archival material of mines which readers had in their collections and one old pamphlet on Bolsover Colliery Company contained some information and maps. Online archives ranged from a BBC project to ex-miners hosting images with information of interest to families collating their genealogy and ex-miners recollecting memories of their working life. Sekula suggests that by creating an archive of very different types of photographs, unity is achieved which is exploited by ownership of the objects. The meaning of the photograph is liberated as the archive is collated and knowledge is created (Wells 2010:63). Archives then contradict themselves because the images are isolated but also united. (Sekula as cited by Wells, 2010:64) Coal Mining could be considered a heritage industry. Some coal mines have become tourist attractions, although I do not foresee this site becoming a place where the tourist sets up his tripod to take photographs.
I collected 130 images from books and the internet and used 35. 11 images were taken whilst exploring the area and 2 were from my archive. Photographers such as Fontcuberta, Ritchin and Schmid promote the recycling of images. The question was how to present the images in a meaningful way to the target audience? Initially this was going to be an archive in linear time order from the nature reserve to the sinking of the coal mine, uncovering the land which was being covered up by the aggregate company. Through conversation and inviting people associated with the colliery’s history to share memories with me, I developed the idea into a collection of different memories using a blank page to separate the sections. Visiting a couple of exhibitions in Nottingham (Strangers not allowed on these works and the NTU Degree Show) confirmed this works and the non–linear time order may hold the viewer’s attention for longer.
After listening to stories and reading a few on the internet it seemed that the narrative should include the length of Colliery Lane and the vast expanse of land which joined up all the local pits through which miners would walk. Fortunately, there had only been one mining disaster (more than 10 deaths occurring from an accident) at this colliery, although several had since lost their lives. Remembrance and commemoration play a big part in miners’ lives including plates, Davey lamps, coal tags and newspaper cuttings. I themed the images concentrating on the present (nature reserve) and Harworth Estates, the past and present such as Colliery Lane and the pit, relevant railways, working life, pit history, demolition and present-day remembrance. By grouping archived images in Photoshop, I could concentrate on which tower was which when presented with multiple images.
I considered whether I should add cross-stitch to the landscape photographs as a barrier because that is how the land feels. The people I shared the images with were keen to see if there was anyone they knew. This reminded me of Barthes photograph of his mother in Camera Lucida. If my target audience was to be the local community, perhaps obscuring faces or presenting barriers was not helpful.
People may recall media images from the 1984-1985 Miners Strike which provoked unrest throughout the country with an abuse of power from those in authority. At the time, the whole story was reported inaccurately, with the media taking the side of the authorities. Having studied Deller’s re-enactment of the Battle of Orgreave, I was interested to read the history of the Nottinghamshire miners because I found no photographic evidence of strikes carried out at Rufford Colliery. In fact, only 2000 out of 32,000 Nottinghamshire Miners went on strike in 1984-5. Fontcuberta suggests that interpreting documents is subjective, depending on the reader’s culture and knowledge (Hildenbrand, 2008:113). If I was to publish this book, I would need to research this area in more detail.
The risk of using archived images is that “photography…revolutionalises memory: it multiplies and democratises it, gives it a precision and a truth never before attained in visual memory, and makes it possible to preserve the memory of time and chronical evolution,” (Le Goff cited in Bate, 2010:247) explaining that family photographs act like a memorial or monument to the past following Bourdieu’s argument of “establishing the truth of social remembrance” (Bourdieu cited by Bate 2010:248). My assignment mainly uses images digitally archived by ex-miners. There is already mismatching of dates and stories which is one of the concerns with archiving, as instead of it being a collective memory, it becomes subject to secondary revision.
Society has a thirst for archives to demonstrate validity and cohesion. To give my archive more credibility, perhaps it needs a forward from an ex-miner from who was in a position of authority at the colliery or someone who has written a book on the history of Nottinghamshire coal-mines. On the other hand, without archives memory falters, so at least there is a record of the colliery which retired miners would be able to share with their grandchildren.
References
Bate, D. (2010) The memory of photography. Photographies. 3 (2) 243-257. Available from:http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/17540763.2010.499609?needAccess=true [last accessed 5th September 2016].
Hughes, G. and Hildenbrand, K. (2008) Images of war and war of images. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Wells, L. (2010) Photography: a critical introduction. 4th Edition. Abingdon: Routledge.
Bibliography
Fontcuberta, J. (2014) Pandora’s Camera: Photogr@phy after photography. London. MACK
Lussenhop, J. (2017) Acosta Mine: Are coal jobs returning to the U.S? In: BBC [online] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40163863 last accessed 25/06/2017
Paterson, H (2014) Miners Strike. In: Left Lion [online] https://www.leftlion.co.uk/read/2014/june/miners-strike-6734 last accessed 26/6/2017
Paterson, H (2014) Look back in anger: The miners strike in Nottinghamshire 30 years on. Nottingham: Five leaves publication.
Schwartz, J and Cook, T (2002) Archives, records and power: The making of modern memory. Archival Science 2:1-19. Kluwer academic publishers. The Netherlands. Available at: http://journalofburmesescholarship.org/pprs/SchwartzCook-Archives.pdf last accessed 20/06/2017
Wells, L. (2008) Allan Sekula: Reading an Archive: Photography between labour and capital: The photography reader. Abingdon: Routledge.
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