Documentation/Support
Cross Engineering
As outlined in the main section of Critical Reflection this has been the main source of material. I have both attended the venue and utilised the machinery and products from there. A vibrant and highly productive environment which I will continue to maintain a collaboration with. There is a tangible sense of pride in what they do and in the camaraderie which is evident across the board. Not only did I take photographs of the people concerned but also of the machinery which in some instances was almost 100 years old. In fact, those working there were keen to explain the workings of each machine and their history. In doing so I began to pay more attention to this relationship and how important it was to them that each machine was cleaned and well maintained. These machines often took on their own identities’ and manufacturers names which were embossed on them became more personal. These are variously shown with names such as “Hunko”, “Cooper”, and “Colchester” coming to life in their own way, with amusing stories and comparisons with film characters.
Photos of Cross Engineering taken 2025
Red Kite Artwork
There was also the opportunity over the summer break to craft the image of a bird of prey, the red kite into a piece of the salvaged steel, 45cm X 41cm. This being done with a metal grinder and producing a really nice effect which I may later apply ink to with scrim on returning to the workshops in September. The red kite is a bird of prey known in this area and also features in Welsh folklore and The Mabinogion.
Shufflebottom Ltd
Having gifted a number of pieces and prints to Cross Engineering for their Conference Room display I was recommended to contact another large engineering site in Carmarthenshirere called Shufflebottom. Over the summer break I attended on two separate occasions and obtained the following photographs which I will work with on returning to the college workshops in September.
Shufflebottom Ltd, Cross Hands, Carmarthenshire, South Wales. Established in 1977 the family owned company is recognised as one of the UK’s leading manufacturers of award winning steel framed buildings and in producing structural steelwork for construction projects across the UK and beyond.
Further to my attending the Shufflebottom premises I was asked to provide a short piece to be accompanied by some photographs in relation to my project. They subsequently posted this on their instagram page and their website: ![https://www.shufflebottom.co.uk/news].
Photos of Shufflebottom Ltd taken 2025
Corgi Socks and Knitwear: Hand in Glove
Corgi Socks and Knitwear (with Royal Warrant). A family run business in my home town of Ammanford, South Wales, established in 1892 and where my mother worked in the 1950s. On visiting the premises there was a real sense of heritage which has been maintained over five generations.
Photos of Corgi Socks taken 2025
Central Wales Railways
Integral to the industries of South Wales were the railways and where my father worked for 50 years, being awarded the British Empire Medal. The Central Wales Line remains til this day all be it with a more limited service and where certain stations are no longer staffed. Two important stations during the halcyon years were Ferryside and Pantyffynon in Carmarthenshire. I was fortunate in gaining access to both, and obtaining an insight into the lever system employed at the signal boxes. Beautiful buildings which are the same today as when my father worked there in the 1950s, and which I visited as a boy in the 1960s.
Preparation for the Research Festival
These are a number of metal book pages relevant to the Research Festival. This is explored more fully on the dedicated Research Festival page.
Carvan
Additional process works
Cadw Amser (Additional Images)
Monoprint
Experiments with printing on salvaged slate. Used metal stencil of Port Talbot steelworks.
Right to Play
Explores the Welsh Government’s play policy and references the Aberfan mining disaster. Includes personal photograph of the artist’s son.
Work Swansea - DVLA
Photographs of the Swansea area with personal reflection on working at DVLA. Experimental printing techniques.
This was the first “proper” job on leaving university, albeit for a short time before moving up to London. The DVLA remains at Morriston, Swansea and is something of a landmark on my journey home on the M4. We had the pleasure of having the artist Fay Ballard attend college during Term 2 and she enjoyed this piece. The buildings aspect reminded me of the cover of the book High Rise by JG Ballard of whom I am also an admirer.
Lime Firms
M4 Underpass Port Talbot
Rugby
In terms of identity rugby has always played a part in establishing Wales as a nation and particularly so in confronting the old adversary England which has historically always been regarded as the oppressor. The photograph was obtained from a visit to Pontypool RFC in Gwent and depicts the Pontypool Front Row all of whom were from the local area and all of whom represented Wales and the British Lions in the 70s and early 80s, This was a period where rugby was amateur and the players all held down full time jobs, many being forced to leave their paid jobs in order to pursue tours abroad. I created the print from a laser cut from plywood and then printed onto coloured laminate sheets for a more graphic effect.
Dream city
The following mono print accompanied some writing I did for a project initiated as a collaboration with MA Illustration and culminated in a show at Peckham Levels and a publication entitled “Beneath the Fabric” for which I provided this, and two other stories. A number of screen prints/monoprints were produced. This may well be something I will pursue in the future in the style of a photo book or short film.
The following is a short story entry for Everybody has a story to tell. Exhibition was held at Peckham Levels along with a small publication.
The landline rang around 2AM. This was before the time of mobile phones or even pagers so I knew straight away it must be work. Or, maybe my girlfriend who I’d dropped off at Luton airport earlier that day, out with the girls and wanting to tell me she was missing me already. Fat chance! There’d been an arson attack at a porn cinema in Kings Cross. They wanted me in urgently. A number of people had died. The DI told me to go straight there and meet with Night Duty CID. It was winter in 1994. My girlfriend always went to Lanzarote at that time. I never went because it was the girls really; but mostly I hated taking time off work. I was a young DC just making my way in the Job and always working, looking for opportunities to get onto the Squads. It was exciting, working Kings Cross especially. I was fascinated by the people who crept around there at night time. A different world. So I knew there’d be some sort of craziness involved and people who I could get into.
I was there in around 40 minutes. There were the usual cordons put up with fire crews. Only Night Duty CID there, they’d struggled to get anyone else out of bed on a Saturday night. In those days you could just blank it and say you never got the call. But I always went in. They knew I’d always work, and that’s why I’d always get the call, the secondments to Squads.
I was told there were bodies upstairs and we’d need to ID them as soon as possible so that next of kin could be alerted. In those days Risk Assessments were verbal and you just got on with it. Night Duty gave me some exhibits bags and one of the fire officers led me upstairs. It was dark and we made our way to the top floor. There were smoke remains and that smell stays on you, like the smell of death. I remember thinking, this can’t be safe so soon afterwards but I said nothing and just looked around trying to make out bodies.
I remember the first person I came across was barely recognisable as a human form. I knelt down, gloves on and went through the pockets removing a Driving licence from a wallet. I put this into a bag and moved on to the next and kept going. I was looking up expecting to see someone else but I was now completely on my own upstairs, with other officers downstairs at the cordon. I thought this couldn’t be right, but kept going to get it done quickly. There was some makeshift lighting and my small torch. I never looked at anyone’s face, didn’t even try to. I was just after ID, Driving licences or work cards, anything which would help. I remember thinking that most of the people who’d died, and there were eleven, were from out of London. That’s the kind of area Kings Cross was then. People would come to it for sex, drugs and criminal activity a lot of the time, especially at night. I’d been working there for around 7 years, and as a Detective it was a great place. I had everything sorted in seperate exhibits paper bags like we always used and then it was back to the station to get everything logged in and let the DI know what I’d done. He was a good guy, always looked after me and made sure I got the good calls and overtime. You’d work round the clock often, adrenalin would carry you through. Not married and no kids just running around nicking people every day, on the way to and from work sometimes. Always looking around, knowing everyone; where they should, and shouldn’t be.
Logged all the property in from the scene and soon other Detectives were now coming in, called in from other stations and areas to make up the Murder Squad. These were really sought after. A chance to get away from the ordinary crime investigation and always a good earner. A way to get known and get on.
Because I was first in I’d be staying. I did the post mortems and the family liaison. Very little sleep and buying fresh shirts in the Holloway Road because I had no time for washing and you could never get rid of the smell. I threw most of them out.
Speaking with the families was never easy and this before any courses on dealing with events like these took place. Nothing really prepares you anyway. I was young, mid twenties and dealing with families of the bereaved with no real life experience. It’s where I really started to learn how to speak with people properly. You took pride in it.
The cinema was a porn cinema called the “Dream City” cinema and hard core. The press picked up the story very quickly with the usual headlines and saying that some of the men were dressed up in stockings and the like. What this meant was that when families came in to speak with me they always pressed me on this and asked if they could have the clothing returned. On speaking with family members I soon began to see that they felt some sense of shame and they had no idea what their partner, son, or brother had been doing. I remember them saying that they just couldn’t face telling neighbours or friends what had happened. You see the look of pain in their eyes and that can stay with you.
The person responsible gave himself up a couple of days later. He’d had an argument with the door man at the venue over entry and returned later having got some petrol in a can and set the place alight. This was caught on CCTV at a nearby petrol station when we did house to house enquiries. He was found guilty at the Old Bailey. Whenever I’m up in that area I always look in that direction.