Photos:
Fire and Water, 2022
David Appleyard was commissioned by Wakefield Museums & Castles to create a piece for the Light Up Festival. David has worked with many councils across the UK to help create and celebrate the industrial heritage linked to that place. With a rich history, Knottingley posed many opportunities to look at its industrial past. David’s commission for Knottingley emphasises the impact of glass-making on the area and its reliance on the Aire and Calder Navigation.
It is 2022 and as with most industrial cities in the North, Knottingley is navigating a transition. A new identity is emerging, shaped by its history of manufacturing and informed by contemporary opportunities and challenges. A place is shaped by its past, defined by its present, but we all have the power and influence to create its future.
Through researching artefacts of Knottingley’s past, there is a reference to the ‘hot end’ and the ‘cold end’ in the glass-making process. In the making of this exhibition, David engaged with the residents of Knottingley and fittingly, there is a ‘hot end’ and a ‘cold end’ of responses to David’s question of “What does Knottingley mean to you?” Both ‘hot’ – the positive responses – and ‘cold’ – those that present as less positive – are embraced in order to pay homage to the glass-making process, its community of workers and those that reside in both the physical and historical gaze of Knottingley’s industrial past.
Postcards and beer mats... and Ultravox
As part of the public engagement for the project, David created blank postcards and beer mats, asking Knottingley residents to express what the town means to them. For many, this was an opportunity to detail their ‘wish list’ of shops and facilities. On close inspection, there was one beermat that manifested the lyrics of the song ‘Vienna’ by Ultravox. Fittingly, the word Ultravox means ‘extreme voice’ and sums up the hot and cold responses received.
Time on our hands, hope in our hearts
The postcards and beer mats are warm and celebratory. Words such as ‘proud’ and ‘great’ are used. These contributors enjoy Knottingley and all it has to currently offer. One contributor declared Knottingley ‘means everything to me’, whilst suggesting ways it could mean even more to them: by giving litter pickers the credit they deserve and making improvements to the amazing canal walks. For others, their positivity is borne from great memories of childhood and family in the area. ‘Friends’ and ‘community’ are mentioned. Others – presumably younger residents – would like a ‘Disney store’ and a ‘Maccies’ ...along with children being allowed to stay longer in pubs!
Weeping for the memory of a life gone by
Cullet – the waste product of glass making. Some residents expressed their opinions using very emotional language and therefore we find ourselves at the ‘cold end’, just as in the glass-making process.
In creating their responses to what Knottingley means to them, residents highlight the cullet. However, as with glass making, cullet is important, for cullet is never wasted but used in the generation of the new. New ideas and new approaches can emerge, creating new beginnings.
Oh, Vienna!
“It means nothing to me...” begins one card, the card that inspired the Ultravox theme. There are others where feelings towards Knottingley appear to be those of indifference. However, dig even further and those who appear indifferent offer suggestions for improvement in the town. They are identifying the flaws, surfacing the ‘crizzles’.
Crizzles – the flawed; imperfect glass. A network of cracks as unique as a snowflake, which can appear during the glass-making process. As the late singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen once wrote, cracks are important, cracks offer opportunity;
“there is a crack, a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.” Identifying and working with the cracks offer us possibilities.
Extreme voice
Whether the postcards or beermats fall into the ‘hot end’, ‘cold end’ or somewhere in between, everyone’s contributions have been a valuable part of the project. A strong opinion implies a sense of investment and belonging by those contributing. It is rare that we articulate frustration about something we care little about. The takeaway is that the residents of Knottingley care very much about their town, their community, their facilities, its past and its future.
This celebration of Knottingley’s history and the acknowledgement of current challenges allows us to see the opportunities before us, casting a light on all aspects of contemporary Knottingley so that we may all work together again, so that we can all create the new.
Written by Annie Thirlwell-Hicks
Project by David Appleyard