City Mapping Hull
2000
Tea was invited to make an image of Hull as it was about to undergo regeneration. An installation at the Ferens Art Gallery consisted of two live views over the city from roof-top cameras aligned with the gallery below; recorded journeys following these sight lines as closely as the built environment allowed; life and times in the city, past, present and future described by people who lived or worked where the sight lines and the journeys coincided.
"Sensitive, honest, touching and funny too, the piece's huge strength ods that it is human and real: not about headlines, visual highlights and sound-bites. Neither sentimental nor judgemental, the neutral camera moves at a pace of human beings, introducing us to the pattern, beauty and charm of everyday things in people's lives - a fence, a row of keys, dentist's tools, pieces of scaffolding, living room and garden ornaments. People speak in their own way, in their own time, the interviewer remaining very much in the background. You are struck by how articulate, aware and knowledgeable people are about the city past and present. And how much more impressive are the words not coming from the mouths of politicians, civil servants and urban regeneration professionals. I wish everyone in Hull could have seen it."
Rachel Priestman