A new exhibition celebrating the working life of Bristol Temple Meads opens on Wednesday 4th December – using photographic techniques that are as old as the station itself.
‘Reverberations’ is a series of 12 large-scale portraits commissioned by Knowle West Media Centre and part of the Bristol Temple Quarter Commissions project, which aims to engage people with the past and future potential of the city district. The photographs are displayed on Platform 15.
When Temple Meads Station opened in 1840, William Henry Fox Talbot was busy inventing “photographic drawing” not too far away at Lacock Abbey near Bath. His creation of the calotype (or salt print) paved the way for modern photography by enabling images to be reproduced many times. Using Fox Talbot’s hand-crafted techniques and water from the River Avon, photographer Mark Perham’s portraits reverberate with the unseen energy, rhythms and meticulous graft that keeps Temple Meads running every day.
The portraits show people working at the station in years gone by, including:
David Crafer, who worked in the railway signal boxes for thirty years, and is photographed re-visiting the soon to be demolished signal box at Temple Meads.
Joey Stephens, who currently works at Temple Meads and was responsible for getting the Union Jack to fly on top of the station, and is photographed in the disused wine cellars that form part of the network of tunnels under the station.
Photographer Mark Perham commented: “You can feel the history of Temple Meads station reverberating through everything and everyone. I was fortunate enough to be able to photograph the people who work here and hear their fascinating stories.”
First Great Western’s Station Manager for Bristol Temple Meads Glyn Beck said: “At First Great Western we are committed to supporting the communities we serve and are delighted to be able to offer Bristol Temple Meads as a venue to host this exhibition. Over 27,000 passengers a day pass through the station, supported by our helpful and friendly staff. Building on Inky’s installation, and Luke Jerram’s platform 3 sculpture, it is wonderful to once again be able to work with Bristol artists to improve the station environment for all.”
Back in 2010, Amy Willerton – model, presenter and current ‘I’m a celebrity..get me out of here!’ contestant – took part in a photoshoot with a group of young photographers at Knowle West Media Centre.
The photoshoot was part of the ProFound Media project, when the young people were exploring issues around body image and representation. They took some professional shots of Amy, then Miss Bristol, including the one below.
Are you recruiting for a skills course or hiring in early 2014?
Is your organisation on the look out for volunteers?
Do you want to raise awareness of your advice or education services South Bristol?
A group of organisations, including KWMC, are collaborating to organise an Opportunities Fayre in Knowle West / Filwood in January 2014. We’d like to invite employers, training providers, voluntary organisations and advice agencies to get involved.
Filwood Opportunities Fayre
Wednesday 22nd, Thursday 23rd, Friday 24th January 2014
10am – 3pm (Wednesday and Friday), 10am – 6pm (Thursday)
Filwood Community Centre, Barnstaple Road, BS4 1JP
The Fayre will provide Knowle West residents who aren’t in education, training or employment with information, taster activities and signposting to opportunities within their community and the surrounding area. The aim of the event is to encourage them to take the next step in their personal or professional journey.
Space is limited so please send expressions of interest before the end of 2013. The more visual, practical and interactive you can make your stall the better!
Employers interested in participating in the Fayre should contact Iris Eiting at re:work: iris@reworkltd.org.uk
Training providers should contact Louise Hunt at The Park: louise.hunt@theparkknowle.org.uk
Organisations seeking volunteers should contact Sue Mackinnon here at Knowle West Media Centre: sue@kwmc.org.uk
Please direct any other queries to Anita Pearce (0117 908 4248) or Rachel Clarke (0117 353 4609).
Data journalist and sonification artist Miriam Quickworked with vocalist T. Relly and local community members in Ashley Ward to turn air quality data into a music track, Bristol’s Burning, as part of our Slow the Smoke project. Here, she explores how she did it...
I was honoured to be commissioned to transform the Slow the Smoke data into an artwork. While in my day job, I write data stories and help create charts and graphics, I enjoy exploring more unusual ways of working with data. My creative studio I have with Duncan Geere, Loud Numbers, uses a technique called data sonification to turn numbers into music tracks. And I’ve worked with air quality data creatively before – my 2015 project with Stefanie Posavec, Air Transformed, currently exhibited at Bletchley Park, turned air quality data from Sheffield into wearable necklaces and pairs of glasses. So I was excited by the prospect of turning air quality data into a new sonic artwork, Bristol’s Burning.
Understanding local air quality
One of the Slow the Smoke air quality sensors used by citizen scientists
KWMC worked with community members living in and around Ashley Ward, in central Bristol, to install low-cost air quality sensors outside their houses. I accessed this data via the Open Data Bristol portal and used it, along with that gathered by Bristol City Council, to create the music track.
I used the data on one kind of pollutant called particulate matter (PM10) from the 14 different sensors in Ashley Ward, over the course of the year from August 1, 2021 to July 31, 2022. As the sensors showed broadly similar readings over time, I took the average reading across all sensors and then the average by month – reducing hundreds of thousands of datapoints to just 12! This revealed that, on the whole, particulate levels are higher in the winter months.
Monthly average particulate matter (PM10) levels for 14 sensors in Ashley Ward, Bristol from August 2021 to July 2022
Broadly speaking, air quality deteriorates in the winter in Ashley Ward and improves in the summer. This makes sense, because people tend to drive their cars and light their woodburners more in the winter when it’s cold outside. Also, cold air sinks and traps air pollution near to the ground, especially when there’s little wind (as in January and March 2022).
Transforming the data into music
This broad seasonal pattern is the focus of Bristol’s Burning. There are two main layers to the sonification. First, there’s a nasty-sounding drone that gets louder and harsher as the air gets dirtier in the winter (the data is mapped to the volume and cutoff of a low-pass filter). When the air quality is really bad, this drone gets so loud it dominates everything. And when the air cleans up again in the spring, the drone gets quieter and fades out.
Secondly, a dub track plays at the same time as the drone. I think of this music track as representing the people living in Bristol. When air quality gets really bad in the winter, it’s like the drone is drowning people out and stopping them from living their lives. Which is exactly what air pollution does, even at low concentrations: it makes us sick and stops us living our lives to the full.
The sonification was made in Logic Pro
Bristol artist T. Relly created the vocals and wrote the lyrics, which add lots of commentary and an invaluable human dimension to the data. We also recorded voices from members of the local community in St. Paul’s. In the track you can hear the names of the months spoken out loud (August, September and so on), like audio labels telling you what point you are at in the year. These were recorded by lots of different people, and I’m really grateful to all those who lent their voices to that.
Recording session T. Relly – yep, we’re in a kitchen here
Also, the points where you hear the bloodcurdling scream? That’s when daily levels of air pollution exceed the danger limit set by the World Health Organization. The scream was made by local children Arianne, Ashti and Astera, who were so loud they almost broke the mic!
Tools Used
I used RI used R Studio to clean, analyse and visualise the data, the Loud Numbers sonification module for the free online modular synthesis program VCV Rack to explore the data sonically and then the final sonification and music production was done in Logic Pro, Apple’s music software.
Credits
Music track and data sonification: Miriam Quick Lead vocals and lyrics: T. Relly Recording engineer: Lewis Campbell Mastering: Sorting Room Studios
Additional vocals: Afric Bruen, Arianne, Ashti, Astera, Helena, Harry McQuaid, Julia Bidoli, Kenya, Lataya
Thanks to: Annali Grimes, Cashell Smith, Duncan Geere, Eduardo Allen, Ella Chedburn, Martha King, Scott Piggott, James Quick, Kate Lindsay, Lucas Sweeney, Rob Bryher, Stephanie Burnham, Steve Crawshaw, Tom Allan, Ujima Radio, Open Data Bristol, opendata.bristol.gov.uk, the people of Ashley Ward and Bristol.
