Unit X

The first two weeks of Unit X are over now and the groups have split up for Easter.

When I first heard what the project was going to be about I wasn’t exactly looking forward to it. I usually try and manipulate briefs to suit the way I work or to be something I’m interested in want to explore further. However with Unit X it is pretty clear what the brief is asking for.

The main focus is on Hulme and investigating it. How we investigate is completely open. The only restrictions on this could come from our groups. My course, Three Dimensional Design has been matched with Film and Photography. At first it was hard to see how the disciplines could compliment each other but during our group meetings it became more clear now how to make them work together.

As far as Hulme is concerned, before the start of Unit X all I knew of it was from an A Level Geography trip, shown as an example of how urban degradation can be regenerated into a thriving community. I had no idea how much change the area had actually been through and I didn’t even know it was down the road from my uni.

In the past 2 weeks I have been trying to research the area on the internet, going to talks at Z Arts and talking to people who know Hulme. I struggled at first because, in a way I felt I was looking for a reason to become entranced with Hulme. But everything that caught my attention was destroyed far too long ago to explore first hand.

Even as a group we became fixated on this idea of layers of Hulme, like the strata of rock beneath it. Each layer holds its own place in time and leaves traces of it’s existence. This was the starting point for our further research.

I was still finding a point of interest to research until the last group meeting before Easter. We were looking through old pictures of Hulme from before and during the crescents and a few drew my attention more than the others. I knew about how much the area had changed but seeing pictures taken from the Chatham building made it really sink in. I have looked out on that view multiple times and I wouldn’t believe it was the same place.  Even looking at older pictures of other places around Manchester city center, I could still recognise it but I really didn’t associate those pictures with the views I had seen from Chatham myself.

So over Easter I plan to collect as much reference as I can of what used to be where and what it looked like at different times.

http://pinterest.com/pompouscherry/hulme/