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Station Residency
The Buffet
I was interested in the disused buffet from the start of the residency and I had a vivid picture of how a buffet might have been through the film Brief Encounter and its setting in a parallel world in a buffet bar in the north of England. I’m interested in memory and how memory and experience are mediated through things like photography and film and how that gets confusing and muddled sometimes. How a cinematic experience, can sit as an almost tangible memory of the past. Consequently I enjoyed using this archetypal film as an anchor to the re- imagining of the buffet and there are several literal references to the film in the works I created.
Bone china cups
My motivation in casting bone china cups was to create a series of artefacts which would simultaneously acknowledge the past, by re-imaging the buffet area, as well as serving as a device to record time, people and place. I saw this process as a commemorative act, a way to commemorate both insignificant and momentous things. The cups embody these ideas through the use of inscriptions, anecdotes, newspaper cuttings and even some entries from the First Aid Book.
The cups were created from three components, the handle was inspired by a visit to the Nantgarw china works, I remodelled a decorative handle from an exquisite tea cup; the body of the cup was then cast from one I found lying around in the mess room at the station; I enjoyed this fusing of the exquisite and the ordinary; and the text Pontypridd is adapted from the original hand painted station sign. These hybrid cups seem to represent something of how a station cup might have been, I like this notion of part reality part imagination.
Creating these cups allowed me to be meaningfully present on the station, to be tangibly involved in making and reflecting. People who enquired about my activity animated the cups, and became part of the narrative of the station. I inscribed their anecdotes and journeys onto cups.
Berw Bridge; video & accompanying objects.
The Berw Bridge sits approximately one mile to the east of Pontypridd station, even though it hasn’t been used for over forty years it still dominates the landscape as it cuts across the River Taff. Passenger trains went to Nelson until 1932 and then it continued to be used for coal trains until the 1970’s. By chance I have come across stories and artefacts, which I use here to re-animate the Berw bridge.
Pontypridd Originals
Garden scale 1:22.5 model railway people, were adapted from ready to paint plastic figures eg, teenage girls & standing figures. The boxes now contain Teenage Girls, Spoddy commuters (a spoddy is a person who spends an inordinate amount of time communicating on line) Arriva Workers & Railway Enthusiasts. All the figures are portraits of people at Pontypridd Station. The teenage girls were made as part of a series of workshops with young people from the Craig. They are Megan, Danielle, Jordan, Sarah Jane and Sophie. Gareth, a spoddy, created a portrait of himself.
Working with Alison Harris
Given the unexpected circumstances of a job share Alison and myself quickly discovered common ground and agreed we could collaborate by developing ideas for events or interventions on the platform, these would negotiate the notion of a comfortless station, soften it and dare I say feminize it.
In this endeavour we held tea parties on the platform one of which was especially for old railway workers, and railway enthusiasts. We developed strong links with Pontypridd Model Railway club and through the residency we built up a really good relationship with two railway enthusiasts Alun Powell and Ron Wilding, who I would describe as the key holders of the history of Pontypridd station. They were eager to share their knowledge and collection of railway related artefacts. So we decided to collaborate with these enthusiasts and the model railway club and stage an event, which we called platform 1. This event was a sort of hybrid day and brought people together people with various interests in the station and railways, we intended it as a day which railway enthusiasts could revel in, as well as wanting to appeal to commuters with a generally festive atmosphere. There were model railways, refreshments, history, music, and railway related films screened all day in the buffet, we also added art into the mix, making it a sort of Art, Railway, Fete.
Funders
This residency was funded by Cywaith Cymru Artworks Wales, Arriva Trains Wales, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Council & the University of Glamorgan.
Images
Exhibited
- 2006 Platform 1, Pontypridd Railway Station.