Mark Power TYNE. Tuesday, 27 July 1993. South 3 veering southwesterly 4 or 5. Occasional rain. Moderate occasionally poor. (From "The Shipping Forecast" 1992-96.)
"Although it was made 25 years ago, this ph
(...) otograph remains one of my favourites. As well as being an important part of my 'Shipping Forecast' project, it's also suggestive of our deplorable attitude to the landscape. At the top right of the frame is the British Steel plant (currently mothballed) in Redcar, now a forlorn post-industrial town in northeast Britain. To the left is the ubiquitous British caravan park. And in the foreground a child has churned up the wet sand in an innocent act of play, but one that might be read as a metaphor for yet more destruction.
When 'The Shipping Forecast' was first exhibited, at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery in 1997, a series of educational workshops were organized. In one, a class of young schoolchildren were asked to write a poem or some prose about their favourite picture in the show. One boy wrote about a truck and a giant child. Whether this was a product of a colourful imagination or what he actually saw is anyone's guess, yet it's clear that every picture has more than one reading."
- Mark Power © Mark Power | Magnum Photos
