SEPTEMBER 2024 · ROAM
Swing / bridge
Gaol Ferry Bridge, Bristol
Someone tied a knitted bear to the Gaol Ferry Bridge. Bright red, handmade, suspended by ropes beneath the latticed canopy above the dark Avon. It was there in September 2024 and I photographed it.
The full suspension shot: the bear hanging beneath the bridge canopy, the murky river water visible below, the rope work clearly deliberate — not a thing dropped but a thing placed. The latticed structure of the bridge above it, industrial ironwork providing the frame.
Framed against dense foliage: the red bear among green, the green already heavy with late summer, the bridge structure behind. The colour contrast is more obvious in this one. Red and green.
Something handmade, domestic in scale, hanging above moving water.
Gaol Ferry Bridge — September 2024
Close in shadow: the knitted bear swinging from the rope, surrounded by dark woodland shadow, the ropes disappearing into the darkness above. Here the redness of it is the only clear thing in the frame. The craftsmanship of the knitting visible — stitches, form, the ears.
Three images, three framings. The bear is the subject in all of them. The bridge is the context in all of them. The river is the reason the bridge is there, and the reason the bear is interesting — something handmade, domestic in scale, hanging above moving water.
The knitting was good. Someone took their time.
Bright red knitted bear suspended by ropes beneath bridge canopy, murky water visible below
Red bear hanging beneath latticed bridge structure, dense foliage framing the composition
Close-up of red knitted bear swinging from rope, surrounded by dark woodland shadow