The Swanscombe Project Exhibition
A landscape in change: Photographs & a history
Sixteen photographers assert the character of a post-industrial landscape facing further change with an account of the history and futures of Swanscombe Marsh.
Exhibition runs 23 April to 4 May 2014
Private View: 23 April, 6-8pm
Seminar: 30 April @ 6pm inRoom 3.26 of the New Academic Building
Background information
The idea of the project grew from a concern at the disappearance of industrial heritage, the lack of value put on this essential, formative part of our history, an acute instance of cultural amnesia, and speculation as to what photography can or cant show of the workings of capital in the making and unmaking of an environment.
The result has been a band of sixteen photographers, both professionals and committed amateurs, working over a year to document their own reactions to the post-industrial landscape of Swanscombe Marsh, a zone of cement industry remains, contaminated landfill and pylons, but also reed beds, grazing land, moorings and tracts of surprising quiet beauty.
Alongside this there has been research of the history of the marsh - how it comes to be as it is and the futures recently proposed for it - not least the Paramount theme park development which, if approved, will obliterate most of this landscape. A small showing of the project at Greenhithe has brought us greater awareness of local feelings including a determination to be thought of as somewhere, not just a development opportunity, a candidate for the (re)generation industry.
The project has been developed within the Crossing Lines group, a meeting of London Independent Photography and the Centre for Urban and Community Research at Goldsmiths, University of London.
The project has now been running for a year. The showing at Goldsmiths may not be the end of the project as several photographers intend continuing recording the future changes.
The photographers are: Lesley Brew, Chris Burke, Trevor Crone, Keith Ellis, Denis Galvin, Simon Head and Nick Scammell, John Levett, Peter Luck, Alex McIlhiney, Ingrid Newton, Anthony Palmer, Jennifer Roberts, Mike Seaborne, Sabes Sugunasabesan, John Whitfield.
For further information please contact Peter Luck
020 8318 4163 07810 646829
