Inspired from the Poem 'The Waste Land' by T.S Elliot, myself and Ella Seccatore decided to respond to the poem by studying our local town Cliftonville. After having a reading done by Ian Jones, and realising how epic and layered the poem is, wanted to take this idea of collaging and use it in my practice by using many mediums to study Cliftonville. Margate is featured in the poem and the town is slowly being gentrified i wanted to focus on the town that is between Margate and `broadstairs (2 hubs of Thanet).
Cliftonville is still stuck in a deprived state and has been left behind in Margates success. Being stuck in the middle of two successful towns, it has become an area in which you pass through quickly to get to the other towns; in my eyes at has become a void. I explored this feeling of uneasiness and stillness with various visits which myself and Ella walked around the town recording the outside swell as inside by going into the local cafes.
We did many visits together and I did some extras for more experimenting. Our main research was gathered from photographing using digital and film and recording sounds using a TAS-CAM.
Visit 01
The Town
We got dropped at the south end of Cliftonville by the Tesco Metro. From the outset we stood out from the locals, was stared at with all our photo equipment, quite a few people questioned what we was doing (what are we photographing... its Cliftonville). I was interested in the textures and patterns found in the shop floors and windows and realised mosaic was a big feature when this town was in its hay day. a lot of the shops were closed up with card or white washed windows. Local cheap cafes and corner shops made up a lot of the space of Cliftonville and so we decided to record the peoples conversations in these spaces which the locals occupy themselves in.
The theme of windows and looking into spaces or occupying a space started to become a regular thought that entered my mind during this project.
Visit 02
Heading towards the sea front
During the second visit we headed to the seafront to record the buildings and textures found there. We wanted to see the difference and the main difference we found was the colour pallet. Found more buildings and findings (entertainment) that relate to a coastal town... the lido,old crazy golf, bowling, shelters.
The lido is one of the main signifiers that represents Cliftonville, it is an iconic building thats represents what Cliftonville used to be in its hay day during the period after the war when UK seaside towns use to be a big attraction.
Visit 03
Along the Parade
During this visit we walked along the parade that stretches along the coastal side of Cliftonville. Down here it a long stretch of the same view which is sandwich between two pools ( the lido and walpole bay). The stillness and the repetition of it being a long stretch with sand, concrete and stairs added to the feeling of being trapped in a void that enraptures Cliftonville.
The Fog
Exploring the town in different weathers. For most of our visits the weather was cloudy and windy... typical British weather. With spring on its way more fogs were starting to develop and i wanted to capture the stillness and atmosphere the fog will add to the feeling of uneasiness and stillness of Cliftonville.
