Redcar blast furnace images earn photographer rare honour

IT had dominated Teesside’s skyline for decades, but it took just 10 seconds for the Redcar blast furnace to be reduced to rubble in a controlled explosion that symbolised the end of a way of life.

And for photographer James Hobson it was a moment in the history of the area that had to be captured and preserved.

Now, two of his photographs – named An Elegy and Foreboding – are being displayed on the walls of Burlington House, in Piccadilly, central London, as part of the world-famous Summer Exhibition staged annually by the Royal Academy of Arts.

The prints are framed in steel, a nod to the steelworks, which closed in October 2015 with the loss of 1,700 jobs, devastating the local community.

James also employs traditional methods, using film and printing methods established in the early 19th century.

“To me, the blast furnace was beautiful,” he says. “It represented the soul of the area – a monument to an industrial heritage that shaped so many people’s lives.”

Measuring 40 x 30 inches, the photographs are part of an ongoing art project for 30-year-old James, who grew up in the village of Hurworth-on-Tees, 30 miles from Redcar.

He started visiting the South Gare – or Paddy’s Hole as it’s known to many – while he was studying photography at Darlington College after leaving school.

“Ever since then, it’s a place that’s fascinated me – the structures and the landscape – and thinking about the people whose lives revolved around steelmaking,” he says.

At the height of British industrialisation, there were 91 blast furnaces within a 10-mile radius of the River Tees, but by the end of the 1970s, the Redcar Blast Furnace was the only one left operational. The second largest in Europe, it produced 10,000 tonnes of iron a day.

James was dismayed when it was announced that the blast furnace, commissioned in 1974 and opened in 1979, was to be demolished, as part of the clearance of the site, to make way for the Teesworks project to create the UK's largest and most connected industrial zone for sustainable and low-carbon businesses.

“It should have been preserved – I can’t believe something that meant so much to the area was just allowed to be blown up,” he says.

James cites the example of the Volklingen Ironworks, a former blast furnace complex in Germany, that ceased production in 1986, and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994 as a memorial of the industrial revolution.

The photographs taken by James are his way of making sure the landscape that meant so much to so many isn’t forgotten, and the fact that they now form part of the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition has reinforced that sentiment on a national stage seen by hundreds of thousands of visitors.

James felt the blast furnace images were an ideal fit for the theme of this year’s exhibition – Space. They were submitted as entries back in January and he was thrilled when they were accepted by the judges.

As part of his submission, James wrote: “The work seeks to demonstrate the collective loss felt amongst the community, stripped of its societal worth, undergoing physical dismantling.

“Photography is so often overlooked, consumed and disposed of in a way in which I wanted to challenge with the work I produce.”

There are 1,700 artworks in the exhibition, the majority by Royal Academy members, so it’s a huge honour to be chosen for the exhibition, which opened on June 18 and continues until August 18.

An elegy – showing the historic and explosive moment the blast furnace buckles in clouds of dust – has sold for a significant sum. That’s welcome and reassuring, of course, but it was never a priority for James.

An Elegy - by James Hobson (Image: James Hobson)

Foreboding shows the blast furnace intact but out of focus and was inspired by reflecting on the sad news that his Grandad was losing his vision through macular degeneration.

Foreboding - by James Hobson (Image: James Hobson)

“I wanted to convey a representation of how my Grandad would see something of such enormous importance that was about to be removed from sight,” he explains.

“Being chosen for the Summer Exhibition is a real confidence boost because the Royal Academy is such an internationally respected institution. It’s given me the drive to want to go further with my work and explore applying for art grants and other exhibitions.”

Fortified by his success with the Summer Exhibition, James has a steely determination to take his project further on the land where Redcar’s blast furnace once proudly stood.

Now based in London, where he manages a studio for an internationally renowned commercial photographer, he continues to return to the North East, with frequent visits to the site.

Often, he doesn’t even take a photograph – it’s about giving further thought to the significance of the site and soaking up the atmosphere. To him, photography isn’t fleeting, it’s a long, deep and involved process.

To integrate the landscape further into his work, James hopes to rent one of the famous, green fishing huts that help define Paddy’s Hole, and turn it into a darkroom with a unique view of Teesside’s industrial past – as well as its future.

“It will always be a special place for me,” he says. “Even if it has lost its monument.”