Intersections past and present

This place has a industrial past. Steel, coal, timber flowed in and out of what was one of the busiest ports in the country. Local people proudly identified themselves as being dockers, steel workers, carpenters and alike, not a namby pamby artist in sight then. This was a badge passed down the generations, families would be referred to by both name and trade, thus the Williams were Dockers. A more certain but immobile world, come your fourteenth birthday you knew you would end up with your old man in the yards. Much of that has gone. I want to understand the dynamics of this, how this industrial machine worked, how it all connected up. I am looking a town map dated 1938. It all starts with the river, two large deep wet docks spur off the river, there are numerous dry docks (for ship maintenance). Quayside Cranes load/unload the boats. Serving each crane is a dedicated rail line, these rail lines radiate out covering the whole of the town. This network is much more extensive than what remains today, most of it has been torn up but the odd rusty section remains as a reminder of that past. Many of the incoming products are being processed locally, the local factories are directly fed by the extended rail system. The rail lines flow directly into the factories themselves. This connectivity and method of distribution is different to the road based one of today.
The homes of the workers are local to their place of work, you didn’t have far to travel to get to work then. Looking at this map, I am reminded of muscle, ligature, connective tissue, it has a organic alive look to it. Considering the time of this map (1938) that seems apt, within two years, with the outbreak of war that muscle would flex.

There have been shops in the old commercial quarter of the city since the early part of the 19^th century. I guess that over the years, the ownership and nature of the business has changed. The chippy used to be a butchers, but what was it before that? I went to the local reference library and looked at Kelly's directory. Kelly's directory records the details of local commercial premises. They go right back so you can trace the history of a particular shop or group of shops in any area within the UK. Its fascinating stuff, in the early part of the 20^th century many of the business seemed to be makers. There were hat makers, basket makers, boot makers, and watchmaker's – evidence of a thriving fairly self-sufficient community. There was a temperance bar on the street. The temperance movement was a reaction to what was then regarded as the evils of alcohol, the temperance movement advocated moderation/ abstinence from drinking alcohol. This movement started in the North of England attracted a huge following and temperance bars sprouted up all around the country. Here you could sample many non-alcoholic delights such as Dandelion and Burdock, Sarsaparilla, Ginger beer, Cream soda, Vimto, Black Beer & Raisin. Of their time they seem to have more or less disappeared, I understand there may be one remaining in Lancashire. .

"Temperance" such a quaint sounding word, indicative of another time and way of thinking. I don't think now, we would see any virtue in the concept of "temperance". Moving along in time(1942) to the local funeral parlour sandwiched between the newsagent and the tobacconist advertised, "All social classes catered for". Divided even in death it would seem.

I been keeping regular contact with the gallery where my exhibition will be shown. Discussing the project and exchanging ideas. It's a useful exercise and gives me a bit of feedback and some constructive criticism. However from this exchange a slight difference of opinion has arisen. In combination with my drawn maps, I'm producing a series of sculptures. These sculptures represent certain details from each of the maps. The idea is that the viewer would seek out the sculptures within the maps. I thought it would be a good way of getting people to look at the detailing of the maps. My park map contains a dog fouling sign, just as you would see in any park. Apart from representing it within the map I also want to have it made up as an actual sign. Here lies the problem, an actual sign with the title of "don't give a shit". The gallery has no problem with it being an untitled detail within the map, but having it as a separate sign with that title is causing some problems. Contrary to what it shows it's not just about a dog taking a crap. Part of this map thing is about social change, previous generations willingy followed the rules and conventions of their day, by contrast we tend not to attach as much importance to them, perhaps that may sometimes border on being antisocial, that's the direction. Anyway I'll tone it down, will be disappointed if I have to bin it, took me ages to get that dog's arse right.

I started mapping the local park called "Belle Vue". This is a Victorian park, a little faded but still beautiful, it was created by the famous victorian park designer Thomas Mawson. It's our local park, my mother played here as a little girl and its where my kids play now. This place can seem no more than a pastel dream and on this stage many bitter sweet minor dramas are played out. There are many characters -‘Parky' is the park warden. To kids of a previous age they were a force to be reckoned with. Parky now works part time, co-aided by CCTV cameras. The present incumbent, told me he has to tread a wary path with both kids and adults, who can blame him, he values his personal safety. Times change we change. This map will be a intersection of all that, a crossing of events past and present, some personal others observed or historical. I like having a chat to some of the older park user's, they may have been coming to the park for many years and notice change. They tut this and that and hark back to a time when the bylaws of the park were adhered to. Then, there was no vandalism or rubbish and dogs were kept on a lead and people it seemed were nicer to each other. I don't know how true all that is, but it interests me and I want to draw that out ideas of social change played out against the backdrop of the park.

Have completed my first map! It shows the whole city of Newport. When printed it will be large, over a meter square. The River Usk bisects the town and enters the Bristol channel. On the west bank of the River is the district of Pill and this has special significance for me. Pill is the docks area of the city. Over the years many immigrants have found a home here – my grandfather was one. In this one small district there are in excess of thirty languages spoken. Some of there communities are very old, there has been a Somali community here for over a hundred years. More recently there have been arrivals from Eastern Europe. So in a sense this map charts changes in those who have come to live here. The map is unlabeled, reduced to a series of unmarked flowing lines, I have tried to give a pattern like quality to the map. I imagined the mystery and draw of the land, this sense of coming to a new place seeing it for the first time, something quite different to that you know. Full of unknown symbols. The natural shape of the river/land seems to communicate this, the course of the river is sinuous and opens funnel like to the Bristol channel, the river seems to draw you in towards the land, it seems to suggest a new life to come. I can only imagine it must be the strongest of motivations that brings a person here to start a new life. I see this map as a type of landscape revealing the form of the land and water. The course the river takes is very attractive, which is ironic in a way, when viewed close to, the exposed river mud banks are quite ugly.