JANUARY 2024 · PATINA
Bristol: "Pretty little city"
Bristol
A tabloid ran a piece describing Bristol as a "pretty little city." It's not wrong, exactly. There are parts of Bristol that photograph very well — the Georgian terraces on Park Street, the coloured houses of Cliftonwood, the harbour on a clear afternoon. The city has been called pretty so many times it's started to believe it.
The Cumberland Basin flyovers are not pretty. They're 1960s concrete, functional, stained, built for a road scheme that made sense at the time and has been argued about ever since. They sit at the western end of the floating harbour where the river tucks under Clifton, a tangle of elevated carriageways and pillars that goes over and under itself. The city's pretty face is about 400 metres away. The flyovers are what's underneath.
There's a long vanishing-point shot under there that makes the whole structure look like a cathedral designed by someone who hated cathedrals.
Cumberland Basin — January 2024
I went in January, which is the right time. The vegetation that grows up through the cracked tarmac around the pillar bases had died back, so you could see the ground. The graffiti tunnel under the main span runs long enough that the perspective compresses — pillars receding into shadow, the tags becoming wallpaper. Blue, orange, pink, red, white. Layers of them, some recent enough to still be vivid, some so faded they've become part of the concrete. There's a long vanishing-point shot under there that makes the whole structure look like a cathedral designed by someone who hated cathedrals.
A Victorian brick warehouse reflects in the still dockwater just beyond the flyover's shadow. Metal ladder on the quay wall, concrete face with an industrial waterline. The harbour doesn't care what's above it.
A hand-painted yellow warning sign on a weathered white pipe, near one of the dock structures: "Evaporator Strip Heat Use Only." The sign has been there long enough that the paint around it has aged to the same tone as the sign itself.
Concrete spiral staircase with a turquoise railing, angular geometry under the overhang. An abandoned industrial storefront, boarded and tagged, vegetation coming up through the asphalt in the chain-link gap.
The tabloid wasn't wrong. It just wasn't looking here.
Vibrant graffiti tunnel beneath concrete flyover, dynamic flow patterns in blue, orange, and pink against grey infrastructure
Graffiti-covered concrete pillars supporting flyover structure, stacked tags in blue, red, and white beneath shadows
Red-brick Victorian building reflected in still dockside water, moored to weathered concrete quay wall in Cumberland Basin
Weathered electrical box covered in overlapping stickers and torn posters, aged industrial patina against blurred port background
Underside of steel bridge structure with graffiti tags, geometric truss supports framing distant industrial buildings
Concrete flyover pillars with faded graffiti and stickers, overgrown vegetation reclaiming ground beneath industrial structure
Expansive graffiti corridor beneath flyover, multiple pillars tagged with vibrant multi-coloured lettering and designs
Long vanishing perspective beneath concrete flyover, symmetrical pillars receding into shadow, faded marks on beams above
Intimate graffiti nook under flyover structure, tightly-framed concrete passage with bold tags and stickers on pillars
Hand-painted yellow warning sign with defaced text reading 'Evaporator Strip Heat Use Only', mounted on weathered white pipe
Abandoned industrial storefront with boarded windows and dense graffiti tags, chain-link fence, overgrown vegetation on crumbling asphalt
Symmetrical underside of concrete flyover bridge, twin pillars framing view toward brick buildings, architectural repetition and industrial scale
Industrial dock structure beneath flyover overhang, exposed brick facade, scattered equipment and debris on ground below water level
Concrete spiral staircase detail descending alongside turquoise metal railing, dramatic angular geometry beneath flyover structure
Weathered concrete quay wall reflected in still dockwater, metal ladder mounted on patina-covered face, industrial waterside infrastructure