“Las Minas Terribles!”

Digitally altered photograph

The concept is important with this one, its part fictional intervention, part social commentary. The original image was taken in my local country park, in Cotgrave, which is on the site of the old pit. The shadow of the pit in the village where is live has never gone away, even now the original sign said stay away dangerous ground mine, basically saying dont walk on this bit.

I decided to subvert this and combine it with another major issue which is the issue of landmines, on closer inspection the viewer should realise that the sign simply is not real, as it has Cambodian ( think it Cambodian) text on the top warning about mines, I combined this with some fictional notion in my head about Las Minas Terribles! I have no idea where that came from. Then I simply liked the idea of connecting the double meaning behind the words and meanings to create a kind of farcical image, which really questions why the mine is still such a massively dangerous thing (in both contexts) even after all these years of none use. I have asked the miners they say that its perfectly safe to walk in the forbidden zone!” in the park as its all been filled in, but health and safety will have the last laugh. I walked there the next week by the way and the fallen down warning sign had been stuck back up, which makes no sense as it serves very little purpose apart from to unwelcome people to a section of public land.

The next part of this mini project was the taking of photographs of the mine sign, taken in completely safe beauty spots in Cotgrave. The sign was taken with me after the photos had been taken further adding to the fictional narrative.