The Edge of Ruin

Marc Wilson

240 × 175 mm 136 pages, including 3 throw-outs 56 photographs Oversized Hardback case Munken & Materica (Clay, Pitch and Ardesia) papers Section sewn & Swiss bound with Wicotex Brillianta cloth Research text and essay Self-published by two&two press Design by Wayne Ford Print by Team Impression A buried legacy - Marc Wilson On the post industrial landscape of the United Kingdom, the more obvious manifestations of the past crumble away or are erased unless intentionally preserved. What remains is a landscape reshaped by its role in Britain's industrial history complete with silent markers. Spoil heaps, grassed-over tracks and scarred hillsides all serve as unassuming monuments to our industrial past. Many of the sites are today within national parks or Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, severed from their industrial origins, caught between nature and the ambition of man, photographed with neither nostalgia nor romanticism. Desolate locations that had been underestimated and uninhabited until their riches were exposed: landscapes that were formed by nature and remoulded in the pursuit of power and wealth. The shadows and impressions of the past, seemingly benign places that continue to contaminate our rivers and soils. A landscape tainted by ruthless exploitation of the world we inhabit.