Through this work I explore the concept of the contemporary British industrial park with a focus on the space and emptiness that these areas hold. The parks being displayed in this work were predominantly built in the 1970s and were originally intended for temporary use. These particular estates are now the predominant ones used across the UK and have been a mainstay throughout the country since their original construction.
These photographs were created from an uncomfortable and disaffected viewpoint, but a very real one. Banal and unwelcoming scenes are what meets you as you approach these lifeless areas. Utilitarian buildings are ubiquitous, and very rarely do we see anything personal or human. We are surrounded by sheet metal exteriors, unkept car parks and everything in sight being simply made for purpose, not comfort. Drifting from place to place allowed me to realise just how lonely it must be to spend eight to twelve hours a day here. The closing of steel shutters, grinding metal and machinery echoes across flat, grey concrete spaces. When nothing is there to distract, the atmosphere of the industrial estate is vast and unsettling. The photographs draw attention to the finer details of the environments that we are presented with, playing with our expectations of working environments and what we feel a workplace should look like. These disconcerting structures remind us that we should be thankful of the comfortable lives that we have, and it is unsettling to remember that these workplaces are nowhere close to the endless possibilities of poor working conditions. This takes aim at the bleak, sweeping exteriors encapsulating the melancholic details. We opt for convenience and low-cost over human comfort. We rush to spend less and do more, side-lining our need for contentedness. We are taught that luxury is the thief of productivity. We are products of our environment.