Roo Lewis
The Cymric male voice choir above Port Talbot, 2022
This is a picture about the absence of sound and a lost future. Dignity and pride in tradition when the present has failed, when the future has been betrayed. This is the opposite of the Philip Jones Griffiths image where the future was foregrounded. Here, tradition is all that remains.
The elderly gentlemen of the male voice choir gather on the hill, elevated above the town and steelworks below. The separation is deliberate. They are not in formation yet. They talk amongst themselves, the performance waiting, possibly enjoying the absurdity of the photoshoot. They are uniformed: chevron ties, dark suits, quiet dignity that speaks of unions, working men's clubs, collective power. The uniform marks them as a unit, an emblem of industrial Wales, of masculine solidarity forged in the steelworks below.
Behind them, the Tata steelworks sprawls across the landscape. This alien industrial complex purportedly inspired the design for Blade Runner, but the dystopian landscape of science fiction has become filled with pathos. The reality is just as bleak, just as imposing, but the technology has failed. The lifeblood of the town is closing down. What was power is now ruin.
This photo could have been a roar. The steelworks, the sea, the hilltops, the choir: a chaotic symphony of industrial might and Welsh voice meeting in defiant noise. But it's not. The sea is calm. The sky is clear. The haircuts remain unbothered by wind. The steelworks is largely silent. What appears to be a nostalgic picture is anything but. This is the death of heritage meeting the death of industry meeting the death of a town. The fight is over. This is what remains. This could be the last palpable evidence of a generation and a tradition.
This is an acknowledgement of a quieter future. The choir stands elevated, still dignified, still collective, but what comes after them? The melodies will eventually fall silent. In the silence is uncertainty. This is a landscape of uncertainty. In the lower right, a glimpse of the M4 motorway slashes through the town. It's a road that leads somewhere else, away from Port Talbot, away from the steelworks, away from the choirs. What remains is tradition preparing performing itself on a hillside, elevated above a dying town, holding formation while everything below closes down.
Roo Lewis is a British photographer whose project 'The Port Talbot UFO Investigation Club' documents the South Wales steel town and its communities against the backdrop of industrial decline.
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