St Helens
PUBLIC INSTALLATION
WORLD OF GLASS FOOTBRIDGE, ST HELENS
‘Where Things Are Different’ is a photographic project based around the space shared by the post-industrial communities of St Helens today. Generations of workers live their lives together, gathering memories, telling stories and creating folklore. This project focuses on how this community understands the past, and how the past shapes its understanding of the present.
Focusing upon the experiences that aren’t documented in books or curated in museums but only exist as stories amongst people, Where Things are Different is a project that explores how fact and fiction operate within the context of community.
King worked closely for several months with members and groups of St Helens post-industrial communities – Beechams, Pilkingtons, historical and restoration societies, miners and labour club entertainers. His project sought to unearth the shared experience that resides within these now displaced workforces. Taking the form of social get-togethers, many hours of informal conversations were recorded and then transcribed to create sources for unpicking accounts and imagery. Many of these same participants and community members went on to collaborate and perform in King’s images, many of which were constructed reenactments of memories.
The final photographs take the form of large-scale (2.5 x 2m) light boxes on the banks of the Sankey Canal. Located at the back of Pilkington’s Glass Works, for decades pipes pumped out warm water from the glass making process into this section of canal, known locally as The Hotties, which – according to folklore – for many years supported a thriving ecosystem of tropical fish, discarded by a local pet shop owner.
Culture Shifts is supported by Arts Council England’s Strategic Touring Fund. Delivered in partnership with Heart of Glass, St Helens.
PUBLIC INSTALLATION
WORLD OF GLASS FOOTBRIDGE, ST HELENS
‘Where Things Are Different’ is a photographic project based around the space shared by the post-industrial communities of St Helens today. Generations of workers live their lives together, gathering memories, telling stories and creating folklore. This project focuses on how this community understands the past, and how the past shapes its understanding of the present.
Focusing upon the experiences that aren’t documented in books or curated in museums but only exist as stories amongst people, Where Things are Different is a project that explores how fact and fiction operate within the context of community.
King worked closely for several months with members and groups of St Helens post-industrial communities – Beechams, Pilkingtons, historical and restoration societies, miners and labour club entertainers. His project sought to unearth the shared experience that resides within these now displaced workforces. Taking the form of social get-togethers, many hours of informal conversations were recorded and then transcribed to create sources for unpicking accounts and imagery. Many of these same participants and community members went on to collaborate and perform in King’s images, many of which were constructed reenactments of memories.
The final photographs take the form of large-scale (2.5 x 2m) light boxes on the banks of the Sankey Canal. Located at the back of Pilkington’s Glass Works, for decades pipes pumped out warm water from the glass making process into this section of canal, known locally as The Hotties, which – according to folklore – for many years supported a thriving ecosystem of tropical fish, discarded by a local pet shop owner.
Culture Shifts is supported by Arts Council England’s Strategic Touring Fund. Delivered in partnership with Heart of Glass, St Helens.