Ironmongers @ Albert Drive Studios

http://intoironmongers.com/

Another really fun little thing happening on in the Southside this month. There just is nowhere near enough time to visit everything.
Looks really a really good show - a photo journey around Scottish small town ironmongers. Sounds like the project comes from a similar idea to one we've been trying to put together to record all the old family run shops in the Southside. A celebration of a changing and simpler way of life. Not been to see the exhibition yet but from the few photos we've seen and from looking through Helene's website looks like she has captured the magic and mystery these old shops hold.

"Helene Witcher’s photographs celebrate traditional ironmongers shops across Scottish towns and villages. Although images like an old paraffin pump will prompt nostalgia, Helene recognises the shops’ contemporary importance. ‘Ironmongers’ practical knowledge and advice are an essential antidote to our throw away consumer culture.’ She says, ‘They help people learn, or relearn basic skills and to solve problems.’ ‘And the range of colours, textures, shapes and smells in traditional ironmongers shops means that shopping for something ordinary or practical takes place within a gentle assault on the senses.’

The photographs capture the pride and depth of knowledge of the individuals working behind the counter and show the colourful complexity of their stock. Many show shops that have been in the same family for generations, their busy interiors characterised by floor to ceiling shelving crammed with items with handwritten labels. They reveal, too, the satisfaction of customers from a girl with a goldfish to the woman who bought a lavatory brush to keep a cormorant from roosting on her mast.
Helene celebrates the shops’ capacity to ‘blend past and present, progress and sustainability, respect for what can be mended and pragmatism about what needs to be replaced. All wrapped up with kindliness and skill’. "
The exhibition is at Albert Drive Studios, 334 Albert Drive, Pollockshields, Glasgow and will be open from 10.00am – 4.00pm every Saturday and Sunday throughout August 2010.