We’ve had many visitors to the Open Bridges exhibition at Scale Lane Bridge and many fascinating conversations with local people who’ve worked the river for years as well as visitors from out of town. One of the recurring themes is the importance and the beauty of the river Hull from different perspectives such as “it’s special because it’s untouched and industrial” to “why do we name our city after a river we care so little about?” One of the team members who closed Myton Bridge to traffic on the Open Bridges night visited and said he’d met people on Myton when the city split in two who spoke emotionally of the importance and meaning the event had for them.
There’s been a lot of questions about the “Engines and Insects” art photography part of the exhibition. The images follow the photographer Horst P Horst who first published the technique in Patterns from Nature in 1946. Rich created them digitally using basic darkroom techniques. The pictures are handmade, carefully created and look stunning.
Spending every Saturday of 2018 so far in and around the bridge we’ve got to know it well but it’s brought back memories as well. Rich’s dad had a factory at 9 Scale Lane in the ‘70s building switchgear for ships. “I remember the sand bags before the tidal barrier was built and yearly floods and knowing you didn’t need a bridge to cross the river at high tide you just hopped the barges the river was that full.”
The gallery below contains some of yesterday’s shots of the area around Scale Lane that we would otherwise of overlooked if we hadn’t have been at the Bridge each Saturday and there’s some graffiti art too from further upstream. With a lot of talk about Banksy’s visit to Scott Street Bridge the spotlight is on an art form we’ve always had fantastic exponents of in this city.
Stop Press! Due to popular demand the Open Bridges exhibition at Scale Lane Bridge is extended to Saturdays during February (3rd, 10th, 17th and 24th) 11.00 am to 3.00 pm. Free entry. The exhibition covers all elements of Open Bridges and Horst P Horst Patterns From Nature inspired art photography exhibition ‘Engines and Insects’. All welcome, come and have a look round and say hello, we’ll be there.
Rich & Lou Duffy-Howard
Photography by Richard Duffy-Howard
#OpenBridgesHull
Reblogged this on Loudhailer Electric Company and commented:
Photos and observations from our day at the Open Bridges exhibition yesterday. There’s been a lot of questions about the “Engines and Insects” art photography part of the exhibition. The images follow the photographer Horst P Horst who first published the technique in Patterns from Nature in 1946. Rich created them digitally using basic darkroom techniques, not an app – the pictures are as hand made as they can be!
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