Beeline, Oldham Street
I was selected to take part in Hazard MMX as a paid participant. It was important to me that I proposed work that would develop my practice and build on the concepts that I had been researching. Having produced the Monotony series I wanted to continue with this methodology of producing work that in some way creates a trail for the audience but I was keen to experiment with a way of doing this without using letters.

Continuing with my focus on the homogenisation of our cities, I proposed to draw attention to the ominous and controlling, BXPU 1539 Manchester PU bollards that guard our streets: a black sentinel on every corner, a pillar of our uniform city experience.

Using yellow tape I wrapped the first bollard with just one strip of tape, the second with two, the third with three and so on, until the final bollard at the top of the street was completely yellow. The colour was chosen specifically as one that would be eye catching but also that fitted in with the theme of the festival ‘hazard’ and referenced the city emblem of a bee that is inscribed on every bollard.

Images of Beeline by Hannah Wiles, Photographs by Roshana Rubin-Mayhew

Monotony (Series 2)
Continuing with the work I started on the theme of 'Monotony', I have completed a second piece of work which spells out the word Monotony on twenty-four separate bins that all follow each other consecutively down Oxford Road. As you can see all the bins used follow the same standardised design and there are hundreds of these bins all over Manchester.

I have used Photoshop to collage all twenty-four bins onto one page. I felt that this was necessary due to the fact that when you apply for opportunities they often require that you submit up to only 3 images of your work. There is noway therefore that I would be able to submit this piece of work as it comprises of twenty-four different images.

This is the first time I have learned to do this with my images and I am pleased with the result. I am however wary about losing the form of  the work as there is something nice about the images being printed out individually as A5 photographs. I am also interested in seeing the images as one continuous line that you have to scroll across to see.

MONOTONY
I have begun a series called 'Monotony'. Thinking about local distinctiveness and globalisation in its broad context, I wanted to draw attention to the monotony of the street furniture that we find in Manchester. I have already done a piece of work with a bus stop bench but I wanted to extend this work and highlight further the homogeneous quality of these identical bus benches that line Oxford road.

This piece links directly with point 4 listed below which reads: Work for local IDENTITY. Oppose monoculture in our fields, parks, gardens and buildings. Resist formulae and automatic ordering from pattern books which homogenise and deplete.