Long Way Round

2018

Acrylic, oils and mixed media on canvas

700 x 550 mm

A row of Heras fencing and barriers surround the old Rowntrees factory, making the building inaccessible and forcing the viewer to take the long way round. The title is borrowed from Tom Waits, and works both literally and metaphorically.

The barriers become a quiet image of the distance that can emerge between people and the places that once formed part of everyday life - as industrial sites change ownership, purpose and use, they can become increasingly closed off from the communities around them.