Ross Rawlings - Denizens of the Valley

This photograph is from Ross Rawlings’ series, Denizens of the Valley. I am not one hundred percent certain what medium Rawlings used, but after reading the following quote referring to his One Off’s series – “Occasionally my camera gets the roll jammed. I generally just keep shooting.” – I can infer that this is a color film image. Denizens of the Valley revolves around a valley in Cornwall, England. The area was once “used for tin and copper mining” and as a result flourished. But now it is all but forgotten. A small community of people remains, living simply and fairly isolated from modern society and it’s influence.

I was most struck by this image. I see parts of two black chair legs standing on top of a worn-out rug that is connected to tile floor paneling. The tiled floor is just as worn as the rug but varies in design from panel to panel. On the ground lies what look like wood chips, dirt, and grass as well as an old photograph. The snapshot encapsulates a smiling woman and a man wearing bathing suits, standing behind the hood of a yellow car. The saturated colors in the fallen snapshot greatly contrast the muted colors in the overall image. The ruggedness of the objects within the frame and the subdued color pallet, lead me to imagine that the people who inhabit this space live a very tough, unprivileged and unexciting life. The snapshot then juxtaposes my perception of these residents. The young couple looks carefree and happy, full of life and vibrancy; possibly the photograph reveals what was.

The placement of the snapshot leads me to believe that it has fallen, cast off and forgotten. The lively colors and blown out sky in the snapshot only enhances my pervious interpretation. Like all youngsters, the couple’s outlook on life was bright, but as time wore on, that outlook grew muddied, ultimately giving way to their complacency and dissatisfaction in life. The gloomy shadows and grime that is this space, shows that, unfortunately, the couple’s beliefs and hopes are just a memory, caught in the past. In general, why do young people start out loving life, hopeful for the future but end up miserable and disappointed in the things that could have been but never were? Rawlings’ series, especially this image, proves just how universal this plight is. No young person wants to end up stuck but it’s like its almost inevitable. We seem to be on an endless loop, repeating the same experiences, never learning or advancing past older generations. Thousands over the years have pondered my exact inquiry, why can’t we ever seem to answer it?