Demolition Street

In 2005 I began working with the residents of Bright Street in Colne, Lancashire to document the effects of a local government regeneration strategy (Housing Market Renewal Initiative) to demolish their homes and make way for gardens for the remaining residents. The people affected by HMRI were our family and our friends, and the histories being erased were our histories.

As the street adjusted itself to a predetermined future, I spoke with the remaining residents, who openly shared their experiences with me.

In other parts of the street, I meandered through deserted hallways, uninvited to a world without hosts, without service, a distinct feeling of being, and yet with increased isolation from a world external. Crouching in shadows, sifting through interrupted correspondences and dragging forgotten objects out of a particular darkness and into a different light, through time and space to the present.

Years later and the site of Demolition Street bears two grassy rectangular scars on the north facing slope of the town, still undeveloped but not forgotten. The highly congested North Valley Road is the perfect viewing platform for pondering this short but steep road to nowhere complete with its original gas lamps.

Looking through the collection of Bright Street artifacts, I travel back to a time before the Housing Market Renewal Initiative: a time of long forgotten friends, families and social events and ultimately to times where other versions of myself reside.