Despite glorious sunshine throughout spring, the town remained largely deserted because of the Covid-19 lockdown, at a time when it would usually be bustling with sun-seeking tourists, local families, and shoppers.
Henry Iddon, Dawn Mander, Kate Yates, and Claire Walmsley Griffiths’ work will ensure there is a photographic record of such an unprecedented time, so future generations may never forget the sacrifices we all made to, as the Government sold it, protect the NHS and save lives.
Their images form part of the Grundy Art Gallery’s WorkTownGhostTown project, which was inspired by a 1937-40 study of Blackpool and Bolton, known as the Worktown Project, which profiled the resort as a “site of mass tourism and pilgrimage for working people,” the gallery said.
The photographs will be collated before being shown off in the gallery’s Rotunda space next summer.
All pictures © the artist. Courtesy of the artists and Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool; part of WorkTownGhostTown (May - July 2020)
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There was no lights and music show in Birley Street, Blackpool town centre, on this night (Picture: Claire Walmsley Griffiths)
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An empty Central park in the town centre, looking towards the old police station on the left, and the Sealife Centre on the right (Picture: Dawn Mander)
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The Pleasure Beach and Pasaje del Terror devoid of thrill-seekers on Easter Saturday (Picture: Henry Iddon)
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The Slots of Fun arcade remained shuttered throughout the worst of the lockdown (Picture: Dawn Mander)