Commission brief; A personal exploration and response to the passage of time and...

THE PASSAGE OF TIME

THE HAND OF MAN

A Photographic Commission by Brian Lomas

CONTENTS

Foreword

1 Negatives

2 Contact Sheets

3 Work Prints

4 Written Commentary

5 Exhibition Prints

6 Administrative Files

7 Photographer's Notebooks

In May 1988 the Documentary Photography Archive contacted Brian Lomas asking to see him and a selection of his photographs. This initiative was suggested by Caroline Warhurst who had seen Brian's work and liked it.

As a result of that first meeting, and with the positive encouragement of the curator, Brian submitted an outline proposal for a commission to look at buildings in the Ashton under Lyne area, noting particularly the effects of the passage of time on these structures. The contract was agreed in October 1988, and work began in earnest in December of the same year.

Brian's written commentary provides a painstakingly detailed exposition of the course of the commission, which extended until 1 July 1990. Brian has full-time employment, and the length of the commission reflected his concern to do full justice to the project.

As the commission progressed it was decided that the D.P.A. would produce an exhibition to comprise not only commission material but also Brian's two previous major bodies of work on shops in the north Manchester area and buildings in Stalybridge. This exhibition opened at Viewpoint Gallery, Salford in January 1991. To date, it has bookings for the Astley Cheetham Gallery, Stalybridge and the Piece Hall Gallery, Halifax.

The D.P.A. has immensely enjoyed working with Brian. We wish to record here our gratitude for his hard work, his commitment to writing a detailed, constructive and wryly humorous commentary, and his dedication to producing high quality contacts and work prints.

Audrey Linkman

January 1991