Professor Mark Power's collaborative work observes changing UK attitudes.
21 Jul 2016
Destroying the Laboratory for the Sake of the Experiment had its beginnings in 2006 and continued (when time allowed) over the next four year. Photographer Professor Mark Power and the poet Daniel Cockrill made several road trips across England, stopping at a range of towns and cities along the way. They were trying to better understand the rise of nationalism then (as now) evident in the UK, as well as notions of Englishness, concepts much discussed in the media at the time.
Power said: "In a true collaboration, in that we always travelled together and experienced much the same things, Dan would write poems and I would photograph. As time progressed we witnessed our country slide into recession and the government introduce austerity measures, although little seemed to alter in the fabric of the landscape. What we did notice was something more abstract, more of a state of mind among the population as many began to blame others - and immigration in particular - for perceived misfortunes. Dan attempted to catch something of this mood in his poetry while I continued to photograph the backdrop against which the story unfolded."
Their work concluded in 2010 with an exhibition in London but has not been published until now. Power added:"Looking at the work now, with the benefit of hindsight, it’s possible to sense the changing mood in the country, of which last month’s BREXIT vote was perhaps the sad but inevitable conclusion."
Destroying the Laboratory for the Sake of the Experiment is only available through this website.
