By Sarah
A few
weeks ago Heritage Eastbourne acquired a fantastic collection of contemporary photographs taken
by Sue Lockhart which capture an important moment in the history of Eastbourne.
It will be great to be able to use some of
Sue’s photographs in future exhibitions but until then I wanted to share some
of them with you.
Most Eastbourne
residents will remember the sad day in June 2014 when the town's treasured
pier was devastated by fire.
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"Our Beloved Pier" ©Sue Lockhart 2016
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Sue
Lockhart was one such resident who told me that she "watched in horror
from my office window, in town, as our beautiful town pier burnt down."
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A keen and talented amateur photographer, Sue decided to record what she witnessed through her photography.
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| "Day 2. After the fire at sunrise" ©Sue Lockhart 2016 |
Apart from her visit on the day of the fire, Sue’s first re-visit to the
scene was in the very early hours of 1st August,
2014 (two days later). Sue kept returning to the pier and somehow found a
beauty in the ashes and destruction.
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| "Sunrise over the wreckage" ©Sue Lockhart 2016 |
Some of Sue’s shots were created to document the restorative work of the
pier and others were of a more artistic nature.
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| "Scrap on the beach with the pier" ©Sue Lockhart 2016 |
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| "Staircase with side view to hotels" ©Sue Lockhart 2016 |
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| "No Entrance" ©Sue Lockhart 2016 |
When Sue showed me the photographs my creative nature was drawn to the artistic
shots of rusted metal and charred wood.
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| "Original markings on the steel" ©Sue Lockhart 2016 |
However, as a curator I knew it was more important for
us to collect the images that documented the history of the pier, including the people who worked on its restoration.
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| "Cutting with the oxycetelene tool" ©Sue Lockhart 2016 |
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| "Half way there" ©Sue Lockhart 2016 |
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| "The Seafront through the burnt out shell" ©Sue Lockhart 2016 |
Thank you so much Sarah. I feel really privileged to have my photographs accepted and kept in safe keeping with 'Heritage Eastbourne' as a record of this time in the history of our town.
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