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The British Landscape

Photographs by John Davies
Introduction by Jonathan Glancey
Published by Chris Boot

Reviewed by Alicia Rose

The appearance of the United Kingdom has always been changing and of course will continue to do so. For many it is a transitory alteration that we never truly capture, for we are passengers aboard this change and ride with it. However there will always be the visionary soul who takes it upon themselves to constantly document the metamorphosis, as part of their passage. They knowingly define ‘what was’, ‘what is’, and perhaps unknowingly envisage what will be.
John Davies is one of the visionaries. Born 1949 in County Durham, he studied photography at Trent Polytechnic in Nottingham. He immersed himself in the project of documenting the changing landscapes of Britain, and brings it all to fruition in his book ‘The British Landscape’.
This stylish A3 sized ‘coffee table’ journal of prints and narration gives an extraordinary overview of Britain’s industrial and post-industrial face. The images are beautifully crafted, while the exposure and printing is exceptional. There is clarity and precision in every view. The images date from as early as 1979 and the older aged landscapes seem eerily void of any heart; sombre ambience and atmosphere exude. It is only when we reach the very last pages where we begin to see glass monster modernisation amongst the concrete jungles that have been gradually surfacing. Even the mid eighties seem as if they belong way back in the early 1900s.
Overall the book emits a strange essence of a time vacuum, where all is stark and rather lifeless. There are glimpses of impenetrable smoke billowing from those giant pumping chimneys that appear on the horizon every now and then. There is a cohesive high elevation of shot running through the pages, used creatively to elaborate the enormity of our landscape. The text running parallel to the imagery is of startling information, telling of chemical littered land being built on way back in the late 1800s.
Poor Britain; other than ups and downs of construction and architecture, the foundations have not changed. Human waste, chemical or otherwise is quite clearly what we build our future upon. Davies projects this fact without perhaps knowing it, the fruits of his many years of toil portraying a stark realisation. He now lives with his partner and daughter here in Liverpool. The book is printed by Boot and definitely worth a perusal for those interested in history and transformation.

For more information and images: www.johndavies.uk.com

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