An award-winning internationally acclaimed photographer will celebrate Barrow, its people and its coastline in a new exhibition.
Art organisation Signal Film and Media commissioned photographer Nicholas JR White to respond to the Sankey Photography Archive.
The result is The Binding Tide, a new series that offers a fresh perspective on the landscapes, communities, and waters that define this region, weaving together its working heritage and coastal identity with an eye to both its past and its evolving future.
White’s work explores the intersection of the human and non-human world, particularly through landscape and portrait photography.
The work was made along the margins of Barrow, tracing the coastal route as it leaves the inland Lake District towns and winds on to the reach the fringes of Barrow on the coast.
He said: “I wasn’t looking to replicate photographs from the archive, rather craft a contemporary response to conversations started by the Sankeys. Excessive planning extinguishes serendipity and so I decided instead to be led by curiosity, allowing for chance encounters of both people and place.”
This spontaneous approach led White to photograph subjects not previously captured in the Sankey archive, such as off grid settlements by the Duddon Estuary and the Furness Model Boating Club, which has been in existence since 1895.
White was also drawn to subjects that resonated with the themes explored by the Sankey photographers, such as a portrait of Dayle riding her horse, Lucy, at low tide – a subtle reference to the workhorses depicted in the industrial past of the shipyards and factories.
White was also mindful of how Barrow has historically been depicted, often through the lens of intense industry and wartime production.
He said: “I was also aware of how the town has been portrayed in the past and was keen to steer the visual discourse towards that of quiet beauty. The Sankeys photographed Barrow during two world wars and in periods of intense industry; where man’s presence landed like a sledgehammer.
“As a new wave of intense industry crashes into Barrow, I hope that The Binding Tide contributes to an alternative view of the town, its people, and the landscapes that surround it.”
The Binding Tide is part of a heritage project, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Sankey: Lives Through the Lens, and will be exhibited in an outdoor exhibition at Barrow Town Hall courtyard throughout the summer from July 9.
