East wall of canteen.
A gift from an uncle: a faux blue leather bound book smelling of musk, filled with twenty-one photographs of utilitarian landscape.
The photography album is something we hold dear to our hearts, as it is a collector of memories. This book has those personal memories but not just of the people that worked there but the memories of a past industrial space, the two are parallel in their order of importance.
I see these images as a journey through a two dimensional landscape of forgotten spaces and unnamed people. Each photograph is like an exploration of an uncharted terrain.
Aj.Wlkinson began life as the son of a plumber, which meant that the bathroom was always on the change, this constant change was to signify the many years of family struggles and lies.
To escape these troubles he found the medium of photography to focus his thoughts, first he lived the life of the rock’n’roll photographer only to find the boredom of the everyday hindered his view. 1989 Staffordshire Polytechnic came into his life, which gave him a new focus of exhibiting photographer and educator. Twenty years down the line and many national/international exhibitions and two books (English Candies/Driving Blind) have been part of his achievements as a photographer. He still is a photographer/educator and a dad.
All images © Aj Wilkinson
