Ian Macdonald’s black-and-white film photography from the 1970 and 80s shows us children’s at school, heavy industry, steel works, Redcar blast furnace, Smith’s Dock Shipyard, houseboats and life in Cleveland and Teesside, England.
Mike Swales at his allotment, Lazenby, Teesside by Ian Macdonald
Mother and daughter Letitia Street, Middlesbrough, 1974
Redcar Blast Furnace, Teesside, Christmas Eve, 1983
“The blast furnace has a drama and beauty to it. The people who worked in it were amazing. I felt the same about the shipyard [Smith’s Dock Shipyard at South Bank near Middlesbrough]. Closure of the yard was announced on morning television news, when the managing director found out. I went to the yard to make a record of the final working days of the last shipbuilding yard on the River Tees”
– Ian Macdonald
A temporary sculpture of a new pipe bend for the furnace gas capture system on the Redcar No 1 blast furnace during a major rebuild of the furnace, Teesside, 2000
Canteen staff at Redcar Blast Furnace Site at the end of their shift before going home, 1983
Contract worker drilling out blocked inspection holes below the tuyeres of the Redcar Blast Furnace, Teesside, 1983
2am on the morning of launch day for North Islands, the last ship to be built on the river Tees, 16 October, 1986
Family on the edge of South Gare, Teesmouth, 1980
“I went with Len Tabner. We were welcomed in the yard and worked on and off through August up to closure on 27 February 1987 and beyond. The blast furnace and the shipbuilding yard no longer exist. The photographs of both places serve as a testimony to something of the essence of both places and were made to honour the people who worked in all heavy industries”
– Ian Macdonald
John Featherstone houseboat, Greatham Creek, Teesmouth, 1970
“I first went to Greatham Creek in 1963. I used to go sea fishing, and it was still dark, it was raining, it was cold and I was aware vaguely of screaming marsh birds like redshanks and curlews and godwits, but also these buildings that were around – really strange structures, really Dickensian”
– Ian Macdonald
Three ‘cobles’ (traditional fishing craft of the north-east of England), Greatham Creek, Teesmouth, 1973
Transporter Bridge between Middlesbrough and Haverton Hill on the River Tees, 1987
“It was a bit like David Copperfield out on the marsh and it was misty and it was kind of weird, but it was beautiful and I registered the beauty, and the house boats were just so enigmatic, they nestled into the environment beautifully, and I was struck by this beauty and so I wanted to record it”
– Ian Macdonald
Pupils await going into lessons, morning break, East Cleveland, 1983
“The school [portraits] are the photographs I’m most drawn to. I taught in a secondary modern school on and off for 28 years, and what absolutely amazed me about schools and young people was their vitality, their individuality: the way they came to school, the way they tied their ties, their attitude, it’s just fabulous”
– Ian Macdonald
Detention, comprehensive school, East Cleveland, 1984
A young couple standing at the foot of the art room stairs, East Cleveland, 1982
Lee, working on science copy book in the corridor outside the science lab, East Cleveland, 1986
Fixing Time, a retrospective exhibition of British artist and photographer Ian Macdonald is at Northern Gallery for Contemporary Artuntil 3 November 2024 and Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens until 4 January 2025. All photographs: Ian Macdonald
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