Peter Stiles
www.peterstiles.co.uk
@peterstilesart
Statement:
In the 1980’s Torridge Vale dairy employed 330 people and was the town’s largest employer by far. It closed in 1993 and has been derelict ever since. It covers a huge area and now every window has been smashed, every wall covered in graffiti and young people have built a skate park among the asbestos and the rats. Every now and again there is a scheme put forward to build hundreds of (non- affordable) houses but it never comes to anything. It’s like some massive animal rotting away in the valley. The drainage pipes and the milky machinery are entrails and organs from the great sustaining mother of the town. Youngsters who skate, drive, paint and occasionally meet with serious injury or death can see otters and kingfishers by the river now. Torrington is in the constituency of Geoffrey Cox QC, famous for his work in tax havens. Torridge Vale dairy is now a haven of sorts.
www.peterstiles.co.uk
@peterstilesart
Statement:
In the 1980’s Torridge Vale dairy employed 330 people and was the town’s largest employer by far. It closed in 1993 and has been derelict ever since. It covers a huge area and now every window has been smashed, every wall covered in graffiti and young people have built a skate park among the asbestos and the rats. Every now and again there is a scheme put forward to build hundreds of (non- affordable) houses but it never comes to anything. It’s like some massive animal rotting away in the valley. The drainage pipes and the milky machinery are entrails and organs from the great sustaining mother of the town. Youngsters who skate, drive, paint and occasionally meet with serious injury or death can see otters and kingfishers by the river now. Torrington is in the constituency of Geoffrey Cox QC, famous for his work in tax havens. Torridge Vale dairy is now a haven of sorts.
Vale Dairy
90 x 112cm
Oil on canvas
2022
90 x 112cm
Oil on canvas
2022