NICOLA ELLIS

During the period of lockdown, I had to pause a 2-year artist placement at Ritherdon & Co Ltd - a manufacturer of steel enclosures in Darwen Lancashire. Consequently, I began to ‘work from home’ and produce small paintings and drawings of elements of the manufacturing environment, from photographs I had compiled while documenting the factory beforehand.

The works document the relationship between people and their workplace, via the visual culture of infrastructure and the way mobile equipment, PPE and incomplete products are temporarily situated within it. Fleeting moments of rest for the ambulatory elements of the industrial environment are solidified by gentle water-based observations. Humorous and poetic compositions are formed when the handling of tools and apparatus seems to be at its most incidental to the wider manufacturing task at hand. This is contradicted by the recording of moments of total intent and necessity, in the perfect stacking of pallets and storage of items in designated areas. The works create a rare moment of peace and simplicity within in a complex and continuous system.