Marc Provins

News: For the last ten months or so I've been collaborating with two other photographers; Michael McGinley and Mike Stephens, exploring how our work overlaps and works together. We are now taking this experiment further by creating an exhibition  of our works  in Arles, France. This is curated as a collaborative piece and is the first presentation of the ideas and visuals we have been developing together.  We are all exploring landscape photography, responding to a changing world and attempting to find fresh ways to express our responses. For me this is an extension of my Periphery project; investigating the relationship between humankind and the natural world through the fringes of cities.  We are part of the Voies Off festival which runs alongside Les Rencontres d'Arles: http://voies-off.com/index.php/en/ So if you happen to be in Arles between the 29th July and the 4th of August, please come and see us and our works ...

Admittedly this is a little after the event but I use my blog as an archive of my creative work, so I'm adding a little update of a collaborative exhibition early this year with printmaker Anne Liddell.  More comprehensive information can be found here: https://gentledelirium.com

Walking east from Manchester city centre, passing through the remarkable, unstoppable march of regeneration. Roaming through Ancoats, New Islington, Bradford, Beswick. Street names with history: Silk, Naval, Temperance, Helmet, Dark Lane. The outer edge of the city is extending so quickly you can almost see it moving in front of you. The battle between the natural world and humankind playing out in those fertile fringes. Dramatic, low, intense January sun transforming all in it's path, the world feels alive; beauty, debris, light, shade, natural, manmade. High contrast. 

I've a German friend who calls the light in Manchester 'greyshine'. It's our most common look, soft diffused light bouncing back off a ceiling of velvety grey cloud. There's no point doing anything other than embracing it if you live here. It changes everything, barely a shadow to be seen, the world looks still, almost suspended. These images were made on just such a day. I walked what has historically been the southern edge of the city centre, now a huge building site, with skyscrapers going up at a pace, blurring the corridor that separated Hulme from town. I lived in Hulme during one of the regeneration waves, it was the first house I owned and there was nothing there except a massive Asda, having been cleared of the architecture from the previous regeneration attempt just twenty or so years before. I was intrigued by the change, my interest being the struggle for control between nature and the human race and how this collision presents itself...

L1 City Centre L2 City Centre L3 City Centre, Everton, Vauxhall L4 Anfield, Kirkdale, Walton L5 Anfield, Everton, Kirkdale, Vauxhall L6 Anfield, City Centre, Everton, Fairfield, Kensington, Tuebrook L7 City Centre, Edge Hill, Fairfield, Kensington L8 City Centre, Dingle Toxteth L9 Aintree, Fazakerley, Orrell Park, Walton L10 Aintree Village, Fazakerley L11 Croxteth, Clubmoor, Gillmoss, Norris Green

I glide in and out of cities every day, travelling by train between Manchester and Liverpool and back again. Warrington is bang in the middle. I realised this week that my periphery series is a reaction to my commute and the view you get of the world from a train window. Inspired by these journeys, I have been exploring the periphery of towns and cities by foot, investigating the constant battle between nature and the manmade world. I’m using my camera to compile evidence, documenting a power struggle between the natural world we emerged from and the twenty first century human race that we have become. Every city is different and it would seem the periphery reveals something of the wealth, attitude and governance of the centre. Some cities fade slowly and remain cultivated for mile upon mile, others dwindle quickly into periphery and neglect, passing control back to nature. Accidental tableau present themselves, bucolic scenes emerge from the urban commotion, but nothing is standing ...

When the Trafford Centre opened 20 years ago I despised it. It's cheap, fake architecture, borrowing from every period in human history seemed the height of bad taste. Built by the uber corporation The Peel Group who own huge swaths of land in and around Manchester and Liverpool it was the ultimate two fingers to independent urban chic. Now I live 5 minutes drive away, or I can walk it in half an hour and I have a different relationship with it. I'm still pondering exactly what that relationship is, but as a photographer the walk is interesting and I've been using this journey to continue my Periphery series, exploring the struggle between nature and humans. As I write that sentence I know we are part of nature, but we seem determined to distance ourselves from the rhythms of day and night and the seasons.  I'm interested in how we attempt to shape nature, and how that control is fragile, a little neglect soon gives nature the upper hand.  I'm e...