Buy prints of this collaboration here.
I created this piece with Sen2 (Sandro Figueroa), the renowned New York-based artist. This is one of the strangest places I’ve ever shot - the cooling towers of Willington, a coal-fired power station in the UK, disused since the late 1990s. The five towers reach 300 feet/90m into the sky and it’s hard to comprehend how big they are until you’re standing at the foot of them. I shot with a remote transmitter so I could sneak into the photograph to give a sense of scale.
Most of the locations I have photographed are physically in the public domain, and indeed dominate their surroundings through their huge scale, but have restricted access. They are thus imposed on the people living nearby - it is impossible not to see them - but it is impossible to engage with them, use them, or sometimes even approach them. They are often part of the energy infrastructure - arguably the biggest issue of our time - and as such tend to be the subject of controversy. Painting on prints of these huge constructions is a way of reclaiming and engaging with them.
Future of Willington: The site has been subject to various redevelopment proposals since the power station's closure, including for housing and for a new gas-fired power station. While some initial site work has been done, the future of the site, and the ultimate fate of the cooling towers, remains uncertain.
