WONT FOCUS

Wick is a coastal town in the North East of Scotland and I have family there; on my Wife’s Father’s side. We make the 750 mile trip up there from South Wales, Bi-annually; usually by car.

It is a small town of around 8000 people and sits on the A9 road, which is the main route through to John O’Groats; passing tourists can be tempted to stop and visit ‘Britain’s shortest street’, ‘The Black Stairs’ that L.S Lowry famously painted in the 1930’s, the famous ‘Old Pulteney whisky distillery’ and ‘The Old Castle of Wick’; which boasts to be one of Scotland’s oldest castles, dating back to the 14th century. There is also a domestic airport which connects the town to many places.

In regards to distance, Wick is closer to Norway than it is to us here in South wales; Norwegian Kings once ruled over the lands where it is situated and the Scandinavian influence is still evident today; The name itself comes from Norse language, meaning ‘Bay’ (Vik).

I have been fascinated with the place since my first visit and always enjoyed my stay there as the people are extremely friendly and accommodating but also because there are obvious unmistakeable similarities with the Welsh Valleys. So on this latest visit - which was for 6 days - I decided that I would make some work documenting topographically, the town, people and surrounding areas.

The folk of Wick are incredibly proud of their heritage, rich history and once booming fishing industry (Herring) and you will see evidence of this in the fantastic old black and white photographs depicting Wick’s glory days in many establishments and houses around the town. The Johnston collection at The Wick heritage museum holds some 50,000 glass plate negatives which recorded life in Wick between 1863 - 1975. This naturally inspired me when it came to making this series.

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