JANUARY 2025 · PATINA

Half-mile radius

Bristol, England

I didn't go far. Half a mile, roughly, in all directions from a point in Bedminster. That's all the territory this series covers.

Metal gate covering overgrown vegetation with graffiti tags on adjacent concrete walls, Bedminster alley — The gates and vegetation don't match timescales

— Half a mile

The back alleys in South Bristol have a particular character. Brick that has had things done to it repeatedly over a long time — painted, tagged, painted again, tagged again, the layers building up into something that's more document than surface. White AC units mounted on red brick, the brick behind them dense with graffiti tags and spray paint that has run and dried over earlier tags. A metal gate covering overgrown vegetation, the adjacent concrete wall similarly covered. The gates and vegetation don't match each other's timescales. The wall doesn't care.

It's all within walking distance of my house.
Bedminster — January 2025

White AC units mounted on weathered red brick wall with dense graffiti tags and spray paint markings — Layers building up into document not surface

— Brick and layers

A derelict brick building with barred windows and prominent graffiti, chimneys still standing. It's not clear what it was. Industrial, probably — the proportions suggest storage or light manufacturing. The chimneys survived whatever ended the building's use.

Derelict brick industrial buildings with prominent graffiti, chimneys, and barred windows, urban decay — Industrial proportions, chimneys still standing

— The derelict

Then one building that is emphatically not derelict: bright pink and yellow, geometric pattern around the window, wooden door. It stands in the alley like a statement. Not ironic, not installed as street art — it's a building someone painted that colour and uses. It's jarring in the best way.

Bright pink and yellow painted building with geometric pattern window and wooden door, Bedminster street — Jarring in the best way

— The statement building

Brick walls in close-up: layers of paint at different ages, the surface building up unevenly, staining and peeling and being painted over again. Tight urban alleys where the brick faces on both sides compress the frame. A chain-link fence against an industrial structure. Tags on every available surface.

The series documents a specific character in a specific place. It's all within walking distance of my house.

Textured brick wall with varied patina, paint layers and urban weathering in Bedminster Bristol — Painted over, tagged, painted again

Full series — Half-mile radius 10 photographs

Metal gate covering overgrown vegetation with graffiti tags on adjacent concrete walls, Bedminster alley

Empty industrial tarmac with flat-roofed brick building and modern tower behind low metal fence

White AC units mounted on weathered red brick wall with dense graffiti tags and spray paint markings

Bright pink and yellow painted building with geometric pattern window and wooden door, Bedminster street

Derelict brick industrial buildings with prominent graffiti, chimneys, and barred windows, urban decay

Urban brick wall detail with weathered surfaces and architectural elements, Bedminster alley texture

Worn brick wall showing layers of paint, patina, and accumulated urban weathering in Bedminster

Industrial brick structure with graffiti tags, metal gates and chain-link fencing, urban landscape

Tight urban alley framing weathered brick buildings and worn architectural details, South Bristol

Textured brick wall with varied patina, paint layers and urban weathering in Bedminster Bristol

Patina Half-mile radius

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