Iconic works in spotlight

Museum exhibit

A fascinating collection of Lanarkshire’s iconic steel and coal works history will launch in Coatbridge this weekend.

The town’s Summerlee Museum will be home to the two-month-long “Coal, Steel and Earth: Photographs of Kingshill and Ravenscraig” exhibition from Saturday.

The intriguing collection is the result of a collaboration between two artists, Frank McElhinney and John Farrell, who were born and raised in Lanarkshire.

Their work is the “exploration of Kingshill and Ravenscraig; one a coal mine that fed the other, a great steelworks”.

Over a number of years, Frank and John formed a picture of what became of these former archetypal industrial sites, “rather than what remains of them”.

A spokesperson for the exhibition added: “Those of us who have some connection to these landscapes project our own histories onto them; we look back.

“The photographs in Frank and John’s showcase are intended to be of now; fresh, open-eyed and as objective as photographs might be.

“Nevertheless, the work invokes history as a process of change; and begs the question: what kind of future do we want to build?

“Join us over the school Easter holidays for family activities, with school workshops for primary and secondary pupils also available.”

The exhibition runs until May 28 and to book a place, call 01236 638352.

For further details, visit https:// culturenl. co. uk/ summerlee-exhibitions/