in conversation with Jason Hynes
Can you introduce your ‘Hometown’ project?
The Hometown project is a social document of people who view Middlesbrough as their hometown. Once completed, Hometown will consist of 200 portraits and 200 handwritten reflections on the town from those photographed for the project. This will then become a publication and exhibition in 2030 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Middlesbrough.
How do you think ‘The Hometown Project’ connects to this year’s Middlesbrough
Art Week theme MEASURE?
Hometown connects to MEASURE through time, the most obvious is that of Middlesbrough being 200 years old in 2030.
Then there's the people who will be involved, who will be of a variety of ages and will have differing reflections on a life lived and the experiences they have had in Middlesbrough through the various decades.
The project will be completed before 2030 so many of the people in the photographs will have aged and changed in various ways by the time 2030 comes around so this MEASURE of time, again, comes into play.
What does your hometown mean to you?
Middlesbrough is my hometown and really is a place unlike anywhere else I've been, it has a tenacious attitude, you can sense it just walking around the town, it won't give in, just when you think it has taken enough, be it economically, socially or politically, it gets back up and keeps going. It's a survivor. That's what it means to me.
How does your work explore themes of identity, time and memory?
All of my work explores these themes, intentionally or not. These are all things that all of us experience, they interlink one another.
As people, we all seek some form of identity in the world and this can be created, developed or changed over time and through this we make memories that we carry with us and those memories through life experiences, develop, inspire, learn and influence our decisions, making us the person we become or want to become.
By people allowing me to tell their stories, through my photography, I explore these themes. I document a moment or a series of moments, that's really all you can do with a camera, it's just a tool, like a paint brush or pencil, but it's the waiting and knowing or sensing when to take that moment that's important in expressing something of the connection you have with the person or place that you are photographing.
Can you discuss the elements of writing in your current project?
I decided quite early on in the project that I wanted people to write down by hand their personal reflections of the town.
Two hundred years ago handwritten letters were the normal form of written communication, there were no typewriters, mobile phones or computers, so it touches on that history.
I also think that a lot can be gleaned from a person by the way they write and combine words and sentences together. Handwriting is a form of art, as with painting, the use of line and form is individual to each hand.
—
To get involved in the ‘Hometown’ project drop Jason an email at jason@jasonhynes.uk
Jason Hynes - Hometown Project
Centre Square 3 Middlesbrough TS1 2AZ (opposite MIMA)
Fri 29th - Sat 7th Oct
(closed Mon 2nd & Tues 3rd Oct)
Daily 10am - 4:30pm (Sun 12pm - 4pm)
In 2030 Middlesbrough will be 200 years old. Working towards this bicentenary, Jason Hynes has begun a project creating a series of portraits of people who view Middlesbrough as their home town. Personal handwritten memories of the town from each person are exhibited alongside each person’s large scale portrait. The project celebrates and explores concepts around identity, place, memory and time.