thomasdrydenkelsey

I remember travelling to school back and forth from just outside Andover to a small turn off past the A36. A journey undertaken for 5 years between the ages of 11 and 15. For some reason this English highway has been in the back of my mind ever since adolescence.  I wanted to reflect on its structure and what we may come to call the “traditional British Road”. Descending from dual to single carriage I started to document my findings. Bricked up buildings, road side cafes, open fields, waitresses, KFC, Stonehenge Solstices and a human encroachment that depicts all that is English and all that is traditional along this famous southern road stretching across five counties. We are more than ever modifying our British Landscape to fit our lifestyle. In my mind the 303 is an ever changing quintessential English road. Long have there been plans to develop the road to dual carriageway from Andover on the Hampshire, Wiltshire border to Honiton, Devon.  This body of work is a long term project of a journey into the culture of a 93 mile stretch of English A road.

These visual observations of Hessle Road are from my desire to understand Britain’s changing social and economic fortunes. I had originally planned to compare and contrast Kingston Upon Hull with Kingston Upon Thames as a way of illustrating two radically different social cultures. But the comparison was too obvious and Kingston (Surrey) demands a project in its own right. Moreover, during my journeys across Britain (as part of my final project) I noticed similar scenes being played out in the Rhondda Valley, Central and Northern England and Western Scotland – It read more like a weather report than the result of a changing economic climate! Cold in the North and warmer in South and so I found myself spending more time in West Hull. I saw that it represented a classic case of our increasingly divided society and a direct visual conscience of government's neglect of regional development and relentless support of London banking. Past architectural remnants from a bygone era, in the form of soon to be demolished terrace housing, ship offices and workshops are being picked clean by former residents and others. There are no concrete plans to redevelop this area – but there is a desire...

Hal Far, Malta is a disused airfield situated in the less populated south of the Island. The area is home to an over crowded African migrant community looking to enter Europe by boat from Libya. Housing is provided through makeshift tents, containers and old converted British colonial buildings. Whilst at Hal Far in 2010 the situation was one of patience and waiting. The flow of migrants heading toward the island had slowed and the residents lucky enough to leave had brought hope for the other African immigrants. However a recent increase in numbers of African migrants fleeing Africa through Libya once more has caused the situation to worsen and raise tensions.

Journey (Road Trip)