Castlethorpe Water Tower as an Art Form: Castlethorpe Water Tower as an Art Form

Near my home stands a disused water tower which at first glance appears to be simply a neglected utilitarian structure, covered in graffiti. I have passed by this tower many times and not really looked at it with any intensity, but one day until last summer, something about the surface of the tower in the summer sun, caught my eye, enticing me to take a closer look. I became interested in the marks made by the layers of graffiti and found that zooming in to take a closer look at these marks created some beautiful photographs. Finding myself drawn back again and again to observe the texture of this galvanised concrete structure, I lost interest in the man-made marks as I observed that the tower was creating its own patterns and hues due to natural exposure over time. The more I studied the surface of the tower, the more colours and shapes became evident to me. Intrigued by these discoveries, I began to view the tower as an object of loveliness, rather than the neglected structure it might seem and it has thus become the inspiration for my Final Year’s practice in my Fine Art Degree.
Since September 2012 I have visited and photographed the Tower many times, sometimes climbing a ladder to get a closer shot. The colours and patterns on the surface are variious, constantly changing according to the weather and time of day.