Exploring legacy (ii)

The point of this assignment is to demonstrate some sense of narrative in the images – some of the previous images do that but I’m not yet sure that all do. The paper I highlighted in this post suggests that there must be an element of temporality to achieve a narrative in a single image. On this basis “The Henry Bessemer” and “Industrial Fossils” almost certainly succeed – the other two need a little more consideration before I can decide.

Text is another way of providing a narrative – sometimes more explicitly than others. The first of these next two shots is effectively the whole story in a single image, by dint of the quantity of text it contains. In the second I have tried to hint at the primary narrative of legacy and change with the juxtaposition of the street name with the shop name. The area has certainly had a new look since the last steelmen walked here on the way to work.

Inevitably the old steel and  iron works sites have been redeveloped, and just as inevitably much of that development is with retails outlets and warehousing. The next image requires prior knowledge of the significance of the word “Bessemer” to be read fully. Of the three images featuring text here, this is perhaps the most difficult to read, but to my mind carries a greater sense of “legacy” and also a sense of loss – and I intend no disrespect to Steve and his tiles.

Moving away from text based narratives, two shots which are relatively easily read, and show the current remnants of the steel works themselves. This coulod be seen as a rather bitter take on “legacy” – with some justification. Hopefully the narrative in these is fairly clear – although it is not especially specific. I think the first image is rather more complex hinting at exclusion and separation from the past as well as the fairly standard reading of industrial dereliction as “legacy”.

And I’m going to end this post with a rather more positive image of one of the reservoirs used to provide water to the works. Again, significant prior knowledge (or some textual support) is required to bring out the narrative in this individual image.