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Most people have some photos at home, family snaps that they save in an album, maybe, or in a shoe box under the bed. Not many people take their photos, enlarge them to tabloid size, laminate them with plastic and then hang them from old plastic coat-hangers. But Lawrence Cassidy does. His new exhibition is full of them.
Residents of Seedley and Langworthy will be familiar with Lawrence's work. Last summer he moved in to the Langworthy Cornerstone. If you walked up the main staircase, you would have been confronted by human-size cardboard tubs from old mills in Salford. That's disconcerting, but what was worse was that each barrel had blown-up photos pasted to them, so that faces of Salford people from the 1950s stared back at you. Turning the corner, you would then see maps of the area from 1922 lining the walls, in between family snaps, all the way down the walls of the corridor to the Auditorium. It was an unsettling and inspiring show, one you had to look at closely to see each interesting detail. For instance, people had put pink spots on the maps, marking the house they used to live in years ago. Most of those houses, and, in fact, the whole streets, are gone now. It was a poignant feeling to know that.
That installation has only moved out recently, but meanwhile, Lawrence was busy working on a new show. He had negotiated space at the old United Reformed Church on Chapel Street. The building dates from 1819 and is directly opposite the newly refurbished Salford Central station. Most people recognise the twisting stone stairs to the old oak doors, even if they don't know the name of the place. Just recently, surprisingly, it has taken on a new use, as Lawrence has installed a photo display in the lobby. There's some familiar faces there, since the artist has re-used a few of his previous snaps that he has collected from families, but this time, they are enlarged, encapsulated, and hanging from coat-hangers rescued from Primark. A unique display, and only visible on one more Saturday in 2009. That's Heritage Weekend, 12 September. The show will be open 12 noon - 4pm.
There's more to come. Lawrence, ever restless, has a new plan. He wants to take his massive collection, which includes newly-donated pics from visitors to the latest show, and put them on the internet. His dream is to eventually have a complete range from A to Z of old Salford streets, with views of every demolished street and some snaps of families that lived on each one. Check out the website, he says, and watch it develop over the next few months. It will be well worth a visit.
http://www.RetracingSalford.com
Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/
