Time and Mobility in Photographs of the Northeast Industrial Landscape

Ashmore Ashmore

doi:10.3390/arts8030116

Abstract

This paper addresses documentary landscape photographs of the industrial and post-industrial Northeast of England from 1983 to 2005. Adopting a “mobilities” approach, this paper addresses these images as revealing a process, in which the movement of things and people, on multiple scales and timeframes, continually adapts space and the subjectivities of the people inhabiting it. The representation of mobility is considered in relation to issues of time in the photograph and it proposes one approaches these images not as static representations of a singular time and place but as part of an extended “event”. This interpretation was suggested by Ariella Azoulay and the approach encompasses the historical circumstances of their making, in addition to the multiple viewing positions of their consumption. As such, these photographs suggest an ongoing relationship between power, movement and dwelling. The paper advocates for a contemplative, relational viewing position, in which viewers consider their own spatio-temporal and socio-political position in regard to those landscapes, as well as a continuum of mobilities.

Highlights

In 1978, Sid Chaplin wrote of his local mining communities:
This paper focuses on landscape photographs of the mining industry along the County Durham coastline, those commissioned by Newcastle’s Amber Film and Photography Collective from 1983 to 2004
This paper proposes that a similar level of contemplation should be given to the consideration ofmobility when viewing the photographs of the de-industrialised landscapes of Northeast England

Summary

Introduction

In 1978, Sid Chaplin wrote of his local mining communities:. the Americans are much more realistic about mining than we are. This paper examines photographs of the Northeast industrial and post-industrial landscape, not as static snapshots of how space is arranged at specific historical moments but as revealing continual movement It draws upon a “mobilities” approach, as outlined by Mimi Sheller and John. Chaplin’s sobering observation might infer that all settlements based on extractive industries will inevitably witness the demise of their core employment infrastructure, but one must recognise the well-documented, devastating economic, social and cultural impact of de-industrialisation in the Northeast These photographs make an inescapable political point about the agency of Durham inhabitants in the face of economic change.

Mobilities

Photographic

Reviewing

The Event of the Photograph

Findings

Conclusions