Exp 21 Homeland

by beverleythomasphotography
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13 Feb, 2021
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Having successfully completed my MA, I began to turn my focus on reflecting over my time at Falmouth University’s Institute of Photography. What became very evident is that my work is now informed and my intent is clearer than it was.

When I started the MA, I knew that my work would cause me confusion and that was projected through my writings. You see, I shoot many different types of photographic genres and I believe that I have always been an instinctive photographer. However, since delving deeper into the realms of my subconscious, now reveals the source of my personal intent.

The Closure of the Coal Mines

As a child, growing up in the 70’s and living in the North East until the age of 7. I remember my father working at the Westoe Colliery, it dominated the landscape. The pit had the tallest tower that I had ever seen and stood out by miles with its dominating red colour. On the ground it was surrounded by concrete buildings that were fixed together by numerous different shapes and the blackest coal.

The North East region was once famous for the mining of its coal. However, in the two decades from 1950-1970 around a hundred North East coal mines were closed often with shattering consequences for small mining communities which relied on coal mining for work. Westoe Colliery was no exception as years later it was also due to close. Upon closure, the pit was demolished and a few years later redeveloped into housing.

In 1979, my father had the opportunity of employment in South Wales. He took up this offer, knowing that the pit was planned for closure, so my family relocated to picturesque Pembrokeshire. My Geordie family remained in the North East and we would regular visit the homeland on our school holidays. Although my father settled in well in his new job at the local refinery, my mother often felt homesick and she longed to return home.

The Long Journey Home

In 1985, my parents marriage broke down and my mother moved back to the North East, leaving my sister and I in the life that we had become to have accepted as our forever home. Nevertheless, we continued to make the long journey to visit her, very often sitting on the National Express bus for thirteen hours. During those years I got to witness the British landscape changing due to new motorways being, to accommodate the influx of vehicles using these routes.

Years later, when I could drive, my sister and I would make the journey often during the darker hours, when there was less traffic and knowing we were amongst the safety of the commuting HGV drivers.

© Beverley Thomas. The blur of night traffic and motorway signs.

Exp 21 Homeland

I began to re focus and question my intent, I usually keep personal things very close and although this period of time was filled with happiness, there was still that part of me angry that my mother had left. I began to allow myself to critically analyse my subconscious and this has enabled me to develop this series into ‘Exposure 21 Homeland.’ My sister and I continued this journey on a regal basis until I reached the age of twenty one.

Originally these images were processed as colour photographs, but as my intent changed, so has my aesthetic choices and I found myself drawn to the black and white process, which in hindsight, emulates the blackest coal and the reason why we relocated. This journey helped me emerge through the darkness, as I began to reveal a past influenced and intertwined between two homelands in twenty one exposures.