Edward Cawood

'Prestongrange', (2024)

Photography - BA (Hons)

School of Art

edwardxcawood@gmail.com

Website

Bus.Stop.Collective

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detail of blue and white image on tile, textural with bricks and wire fence

Edward Cawood, (2024), Prestongrange: Hoffman Kiln (24 hours in blue) detail, 36 x cyanotype on tile, 890mm x 890mm x 17mm

Edward Cawood's lens- and text-based practice embodies a site-catalysed, research-led approach, delving into Scotland's industrial decline and the nuanced value of objects and their function(s). Informed by queer, archaeological, and readymade methodologies, his practice merges historical inquiry with contemporary discourse, utilising labour-intensive processes to evoke physical and conceptual depth, reflecting on craftsmanship amid societal shifts. Through an interdisciplinary lens, Edward invites viewers to navigate complex intersections of heritage, identity, and transformation, prompting reflection on our relationship with industrial legacies and the evolving meanings embedded within objects and landscapes.

Prestongrange

Prestongrange, East Lothian, Scotland, was the site of huge industrial activity, once home to one of Scotland's oldest collieries (with coal first extracted at the site during the 12th century by Cistercian monks from the nearby Newbattle Abbey), a large brick and tile works, salt extraction, a glass works and a bustling merchant's port. Manufacture boomed at Prestongrange from the onset of the Industrial Revolution and continued accelerating throughout the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The port was filled in during the first half of the 20th century, followed by the colliery's closure, mandated by the National Coal Board in 1962. These closures forced Prestongrange Brick and Tile Works to cease operation in 1975.

Right: Edward Cawood, (2024), 'Prestongrange: Pithead Baths', 120mm digital scan

black and white image showing industrial Pithead Baths, Prestongrange

Edward Cawood, (2024), 'Dreaming as a brick on Morrison's Haven', 12 x plaster bricks, each 230mm x 100mm x 65mm. Words by Edward Cawood & Amy Cawood.

Plaster brick displaying stamped word AZURE

Plaster brick displaying stamped word HORIZON

Plaster brick displaying stamped word WAVES

Plaster brick displaying stamped word CRADLE

Plaster brick displaying stamped word THE

Plaster brick displaying stamped word MOON'S

Plaster brick displaying stamped word COLD

Plaster brick displaying stamped word FLAME

Plaster brick displaying stamped word BEACH

Plaster brick displaying stamped word OF

Plaster brick displaying stamped word RUBBLE

tiles in a grid showing blue image of brick kiln

Edward Cawood, (2024), 'Prestongrange: Hoffman Kiln (24 hours in blue), 36 x cyanotype on tile, each tile 150mm x 150mm x 3mm, total 890mm x 890mm x 18mm

Edward Cawood, (2024), 'Prestongrange: Hoffman Kiln (24 hours in blue)', 36 x cyanotype on tile, 890mm x 890mm x 18mm

'Prestongrange: Hoffman Kiln (24 hours in blue) comprises of 36 square tiles arranged in a square grid, each featuring cyanotype on tile. The tiles come together to form one whole image, Prestongrange's Hoffman Continuous Kiln - a 24 chamber kiln used to fire bricks. The kiln has not seen any use since the closure of Prestongrange Brick and Tile Works.

The title of the work references both the kiln's 24 chambers and the exposure time needed for the complete set of tiles, with each tile taking 40 minutes to expose.