Black Country Make

This week I had the opportunity to meet the group of young people who make up Black Country Make, led by Jez Monk-Hawksworth. Black Country Make is a project which places power back in the hands of the community. Jez has been working with the residents of Heath Town teaching them the skills required to design and affect their environment in the way that they want to. They have learnt how to use 3D printers and are in the process of building their own laser cutter which will provide them with the means to produce whatever they want. Black Country make have plans to build their own housing which, with a small amount of invested capital, would be financially self sustaining - producing their own electricity at next to no cost - meaning people would be able to live there rent free. It is an incredibly exciting project, managed by a group of driven and promising young people, which has the could well be an early example of how we all live in the future - with production, and therefore control of our own lives and environment, back in the hands of the individual. 

I intend to work closely with this group, setting up the darkroom in the same unit that they occupy - using their determination as a means to kickstart my project, hoping that their enthusiasm rubs off on others to create further interest in the project - getting residents involved in developing their skills and being involved in bringing a benefit to the community and to themselves.


Jez gave me a tip in regards to an interesting place I could look to find more photographs - the now closed car park and sports centre which both sit beneath Chervil Rise. Jez agreed to help me gain entry. Until then, I thought I’d take some photographs around the perimeter which give clues to the presence of the now unused facilities. Here are some of those photographs. Expect to see more images next week following my exploration of these abandoned areas!