Richard Southall

Richard Southall: Spaghetti Junction

Richard Southall, a British architectural photographer, has a new book of powerful 35mm and medium-format film images of Spaghetti Junction, a well-known and little-loved motorway interchange in Birmingham, England. Below, he talks about this unusual look at a huge example of Brutalist architecture:

Spaghetti, a forgotten world

Spaghetti Junction is the nickname of an infamous road junction built on the edge of Birmingham, England at the bottom end of Europe’s busiest Motorway, the M6.

Formally known as the Gravelly Hill interchange, the road junction opened in the early 1970s.

The interchange is built on five levels with over 570 supporting columns. Since its opening, it has caused no end of suffering to the unsuspecting traveler, due to numerous exits and entrances, and has also been plagued by constant repairs and closures.

Birmingham’s reputation has become tarnished due to the negative view the rest of the country has of the road junction, as many people have had frustrating experiences trying to negotiate it. Also, people have a false view of Birmingham as the ‘concrete city’ due to the extensive use of the material in its construction, and in other parts of the city. From the way it appears today, you would think the interchange was abandoned. But 38,000 vehicles still use it each hour.

What I have tried to capture is the reality of its true state, as the majority only see the interchange from a raised position and few view it from ground level.

This project took just over five months to complete and was shot on 35mm (Nikon) and 120 (Hasselblad). The majority of the film stock used was Tri-X rated at 320 iso and then developed in Rodinal (over the kitchen sink). Some of the later images were taken on Adox 100 iso and also developed in Rodinal (slightly over cooked). The negatives were then scanned on a Microtek scanner before minor basic corrections (levels, contrast, etc.) were made. Unfortunately with the rapid demise of film in the UK, there is very little access to decent darkroom facilities, hence the digitization.

The final images will be output onto an archive inkjet paper if the proposed exhibition proceeds.

--RICHARD SOUTHALL

About the book:

These images are from a set illustrating the rarely seen under-belly of Birmingham's most infamous piece of late 1960s architecture, the Gravelly Hill Interchange, more commonly known as Spaghetti Junction.

This example of late-brutalism architecture is now in decline and is constantly under attack from both the elements and man. These images try to capture both its grandeur and decay. B&W film has been used predominantly throughout the project, to capture the grittiness, tone and texture of the materials used in its construction.

Richard Southall has been a practicing architectural photographer for over 25 years. He works predominantly in the leisure (bar, clubs & casinos), residential and retail sectors. He has in recent years also taught photography at several Midland colleges.

http://www.blurb.com/books/2131687

http://emphasisphotography.blogspot.com