The Grid Project

My very first brief given was for a project called The Grid Project. We were put into groups, given an allacated square from a map of Swansea and were told to visist and research this area. We then had to respond to our surroundings through images, and produce one final image that represented the area. My area of swansea included the St Helens Road, spanning from Russell Street all the way to the very famous Joe's Ice Cream Parlour.

 Before I visited the area, I wanted to research the History beforehand. As I know the area, and Swansea quite well, I instantly wanted to research the History of Joe's Ice Cream as it is one of the most beloved places in Swansea.
Here is the History from the Joe's Ice Cream website.

Back in 1898, Luigi Cascarini came over to Swansea from the Abruzzi Mountains in Italy. In the midst of the industrial era, Mr. Cascarini was shocked to find that there were no cafes open to accommodate the early workers of the Swansea valley. So Luigi decided to open up a workers haven where he would serve them rich roast coffee from the crack of dawn until the darkness of the night. He worked every hour of the day making his cafe such a success that soon he opened another...and.... another...and another. Before long, Luigi had opened a chain of cafes that his children ran with him.
When his eldest son, Joe, was old enough he brought him over to Wales from Italy and Joe ran the cafe at 85 St. Helen’s Road. As a passionate ice cream lover, Joe Cascarini sought to add a truly Italian flair to the Welsh cafes, so following a secret recipe from his home in Italy, he sourced the finest ingredients in Wales and introduced to Swansea the most unique tasting, luxury, Italian ice cream.
Joe's sacred recipe remains unchanged and safe in the heart of his family who make the same ice cream almost a century on. Using select ingredients of the highest quality, Joe’s remains an ice cream of finesse. We experiment with our aromas, offering a blend of Welsh and Italian fancy flavours to our loyal Joe's following, but our ingredients will always retain the Joe's stamp of quality. That’s what makes Joe’s ice ream JOE’S. After all...Everything else is just ice cream!     ( source )


St Helen's Road

While researching this very well-known parlour, I began to realise how passionate and dedicated this family were to their buisness, something I's like to capture in my images. Another fact I was surprised by was how far back the History went. I then had a basic idea of what I wanted to capture in my final image.
      I then started to research the History of St Helen's Road.    

The St.Helen's ground at Swansea has several unique features, starting with the fact that it is laid out on a reclaimed sand bank and in places the soil is barely eighteen inches thick. The second feature has been that cricket and rugby have happily co-existed at Swansea for almost 125 years, with the ground staging International cricket, rugby union and rugby league. ( source )
       In 2005, the venue could hold an audience of 10,500 seated before it was re-developed. The famous east stand, which had provided cloisters over part of Oystermouth Road, has since been demolished and replaced with a metallic stand unloved by locals. It also is the host of a fireworks display on Guy Fawkes Night.

I had an idea for an image inspired by St Helen's Road. I thought of ways that somehow incorportate the fireworks display into my images. I wanted to experiment with different mediums such as paint and photocollage, however I knew this wasnt ideal as we only had a little less of a week to create our image. Also, the field may have been related to my area, however I felt I should incorporate something was within my area. With this in mind, I decided to go along with my Joe's Ice Cream concept.