Simon Mills Photography

All That’s Left

15.03.12

All That’s Left by Seainin Passi and David Hood is a permanent artwork on display in Mossley Mill, Newtonabbey. The piece is part archive, part unofficial memorial to the linen industry that was once at the heart of this local community.

“All That’s Left celebrates the significance and unique beauty of the linen once produced on the grounds, chronicling the diversity of colour, strength, delicacies and textures of flax processed by the local community that worked at the mill. Significantly among this archive of the local community’s history of industry and craftsmanship is a golden yellow yarn, dating from the 1930’s dyed with Crocus flowers, a colour once historically reserved for Irish Kings in centuries past.

All That’s Left simply presents and catalogs the inherent but invisible value of the linen, and what it powerfully represents for the community behind it. The artwork is literally all that’s left, the final remains of the once thriving and famous linen trade of the region. It is the surviving inheritance of the last linens produced in Northern Ireland solemnly signifying the past skills and people that helped build the strong community living here today.

Heartbreakingly donated by two Weavers from the Flax Mill in Dungiven, the linen here fervently and reciprocally represents them, as they and the small but special community they are part of, passionately strive to maintain and revive the traditional crafts of the regions linen legacy.”

Seainin Passi and David Hood

Formerly a flax spinning mill, Mossley Mill was saved from demolition in 1996 by Newtonabbey Council, who began a long period of restoration and conversions. As well as housing the Council’s Civic Headquarters, the site also has Museum exploring Mossley’s flax spinning history and heritage and a state of the art Community Arts and Cultural Centre. The Cultural Centre is a new addition to Mossley, designed and built to complement the existing Mill buildings. Seainin and David’s artwork is on display in the Centre’s huge, glass walled atrium, and despite being opened in 2010 has never been photographed before.

Following on from ‘All That’s Left’, Seainin and David are now working on the Linen Legacy Project, an ongoing research and education initiative to communicate the rich cultural heritage of Northern Ireland’s linen industry to both visitors and locals alike. The project will not just look at the historical and cultural impact of the linen industry in Northern Ireland but also look to its future; through contemporary processes, new sustainable production methods and alternative applications for the material.

Helter Belter Skelter

13.03.12

Helter Belter Skelter Animation

Artist Ben Craig asked me to come down and document his Helter Belter Skelter at the Belfast Waterfront’s Festival in a Weekend. I’ve photographed Ben before for the Multiple project and as he’s now based in Berlin this was a great opportunity to catch up. The Helter Belter Skelter builds on Ben’s Double Helix Downward Spiral installation at the Ulster Museum as part of last year’s Culture Night, but this time based around RGB light wavelengths instead of the structure of DNA. The three colour coded tracks and a whole bunch of toy cars had the children (and parents) visiting the festival enthralled for hours - a real shame it was only up for the weekend of the Festival.

POPA

15.02.12

Just after Christmas I upgraded my phone to the iPhone 4S. Previously I had the old 3G, which had sported a rather fetching smashed screen and a glitchy camera for the best part of a year, something that had made any iPhoneography awkward and frustrating to do. To go along with the new phone, and to hopefully encourage me to actually use its camera regularly, I ordered the rather lovely POPA from Beep Industries.

POPA photograph courtesy of Beep Industries

First up, the POPA is no run of the mill, flimsy phone accessory. Everything from the beautiful packaging to the finish on the product itself is first rate. The POPA is made from solid metal with a textured leather grip. It has a great feel to it; solid, just the right weight and grippy enough to give you complete confidence holding it when connected to your phone. And yup, the big red button just begs to be pressed.

POPA photograph courtesy of Beep Industries

Connecting to the iPhone is simple enough. The first time you connect the POPA you will be prompted to download the POPA app - after you've installed it the app will launch automatically each time you connect the POPA. The app itself is clear and simple to use - I love the filmstrip/contact sheet which stores your photos until you want to send them to your photo album (the latest version of the app can be set to automatically save photos to your photo album if you prefer) - and has options for sending and sharing your photos via the usual social media suspects and a few iPhone post processing apps too. Another benefit of the app is its speed - the camera will shoot pictures almost instantly, without waiting for a focus lock like most other iPhone photo apps, and will let you keep shooting with almost no delay between shots. I'm no street photographer but I definitely agree with Greg Schmigel that the time saving here is a massive plus.

The biggest benefit for me has been how much more comfortable and accurate I can be when using the iPhone to take photos. I'm not the most dextrous of people; having already lost one phone to picture taking cackhandedness and finding more and more photo apps requiring multiple digits in every corner of the screen to take a photo, it comes as some relief to just have to think about pressing one (big) button. And whilst the POPA button only works within the POPA app, having the grip attached gives a much greater feel of control and accuracy when using almost every other iPhone photo app.

I'm genuinely loving the POPA, and everyone else who sees it is instantly hooked - if you're interested in getting a hold of one check out the POPA website for more info.

Iceberg

17.01.12

Towards the end of last year architect Des Ewing asked me to shoot the first two residential developments in his Iceberg project. Many of you will know Des from BBC’s House of the Year (which began its third series last week), but he is also one of Northern Ireland’s most progressive and forward thinking architects.

A few favourites below from both the houses.

26 Treasures

13.01.12

Last year I was lucky enough to be asked to take part in the 26 Treasures project at the Ulster Museum. Based on a project by writer’s collective 26 originally held at the V&A museum in London, the idea was extended to include the National Library in Wales, National Museum in Scotland and the Ulster Museum here in Northern Ireland.

26 objects were selected from the museum’s collection and randomly assigned to 26 writers who were then asked to write a 62 word personal response. In the Ulster Museum’s case, each object and writer were also partnered with a visual artist who had to produce a piece of work in response to both the object and the words. I was partnered with the fantastic Shelly Wilson and a slightly depressed basalt column - check out Shelly’s beautiful words and my visual piece below.

The work from all 4 museums is now being collected in a single book, published via the crowd funding publishing site Unbound. If you would like to support the book and make it happen please visit the 26 Treasures Unbound page!