Digital prints, 24 x 16”

For decades Firth Carpet factory stood at the heart of Bailiff Bridge, a village on the edge of Calderdale. In 2002 it closed its doors for the final time, now nearly twenty years on most of the former mill buildings have disappeared, making space for the development of new homes.

Photographs document the aging hands of former Firth’s employees, remembering the actions they carried out in their various roles, using tools they kept as mementos – making visible the many skills involved in the production of carpets. The work was exhibited in the former Boardroom, located in one of the few remaining buildings- as a way of further valuing the labour that once defined the place and community.

Developed as part of a project with Dr Lisa Taylor, Leeds Beckett University, who is studying the impact of deindustrialization on the communities of Bailiff Bridge.

Photo: Simon Warner/Nick Singleton