Our December meeting, with the theme Abandoned, produced a fine selection of buildings – factories, an RAF station, a hospital, a football ground, the Berlin Wall, boats and piers – in various states of ruin, decay and dilapidation as well as a plethora of items lost or discarded in the street – supermarket trollies, shoes, clothing etc.
Amongst the many single images portraying decay there were some notable series documenting a single place. Edith’s series of photographs of the Box Hill Fort testify to the establishment of the London Defence Positions drawn up in 1888 to protect the capital in the event of enemy invasion. Similarly Peter’s photographs of the now abandoned and overgrown gunpowder works near Faversham, are evidence of our military past. Frankie’s photographs document the remains of an abandoned mining village in Kyrgistan – an empty swimming pool, petrol station, armchair and sun umbrella, abandoned interiors are a melancholy reminder of human presence. Jan showed scanned Kodachrome slides of a power station in Walsall taken in the 1970’s – a sad reminder of the demise of the area’s heavy industry. Similarly, Ingrid’s black and white images of the ruined engine houses and chimneys of the tin mining industry in Camborne, Cornwall are a sorry memorial to this once great and important industry. Here is a selection of the works shown….

Alec Wyllie

Ingrid Newton

Edith Templeton

Frankie McAllister

Chris Burrows

Austin Guest

Steve Jones

Jim Paterson

Anna Lerner

Our next meeting will take place on Wednesday 8th January 2020 at 18.45 at the usual venue – The Art Workers Guild, 6 Queens Square, Bloomsbury, London WC1N 3AT.
The theme for our first meeting of the year, will be Own Projects. This is a good opportunity to show any work in progress or to discuss future projects you may have. Please bring along any work you wish to share on a memory stick or in print or book form.