Mitra Tabrizian’s new series Leicestershire makes its UK debut at The Wapping Project Bankside from 8 November to January 2014, showcasing a selection of near-dystopian shots taken in the county still bearing the marks and memories of its once central position in the textile and hosiery industry.

The winner of this year’s Royal Academy Rose Award for Photography, Tabrizian finds inspiration in the quasi-deserted post-industrial landscape of Leicestershire, where abandoned manufacturing plants dot the skyline as reminders of the region’s former glory and omens of an uncertain future for the community.

A means of historical documentation as well as a tribute to the forgotten people who once helped build a major industrial hub, here solitary human figures intermittently emerge as threatening skeletons against the backdrop of crumbling factories. Cast entirely with real former factory workers from the local area, these isolated wanderers of cavernous, ghostly buildings strike a poignant chord, underlining the ideas of disillusionment, dislocation and exclusion Tabrizian finds so curious and in need of exploration.

Mitra Tabrizian: Leicestershire, 8 November- January 2014, The Wapping Project Bankside, 65a Hopton Street, London, SE1 9LR.

Credits
1. Mitra Tabrizian, Leceistershire, 2012, Mitra Tabrizian and courtesy The Wapping Project Bankside.