I interviewed Wade Christensen in October last year as part of a project to document some of the experiences of those working for TATA Steel at Port Talbot. The audio used below is taken from an interview I did with Wade when I visited blast furnace number four, the final furnace to be permanently shut down at the site, which had happened only a couple of weeks before I visited. Before the two blast furnaces at Port Talbot were turned off, Wade had been managing a team of over fifty at furnace number four, but when I met him, he was managing a shift team of just seven. There was a tangible sense of something missing from everyone's normal day to day experience at the site, particularly the lack of noise, activity, busyness and the people that would normally be there working.
In the interview, Wade talked about the changes that had taken place in the industry during his career, and talked about the sense of loss felt by the community at the closure of the blast furnaces at Port Talbot, and with them the ability to produce virgin steel.
This image is composed from two separate photographs. Wade would never be anywhere near the furnace in a t-shirt and without his protective clothing, so the final image I have created is the result of a little bit of artistic license on my part, depicting him in the space where he would normally work, but without the protective clothing that he would normally be wearing.
Wade was one of sixteen employees of TATA Steel that I met back in October. I am creating portraits and studies of each sitter and aim to exhibit the works together with the accompanying audio interviews.
In the interview, Wade talked about the changes that had taken place in the industry during his career, and talked about the sense of loss felt by the community at the closure of the blast furnaces at Port Talbot, and with them the ability to produce virgin steel.
This image is composed from two separate photographs. Wade would never be anywhere near the furnace in a t-shirt and without his protective clothing, so the final image I have created is the result of a little bit of artistic license on my part, depicting him in the space where he would normally work, but without the protective clothing that he would normally be wearing.
Wade was one of sixteen employees of TATA Steel that I met back in October. I am creating portraits and studies of each sitter and aim to exhibit the works together with the accompanying audio interviews.
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