Growing up in West Somerset, Day Bowman’s childhood summers were often spent drinking gritty tea out of plastic cups on a windswept beach staring out at the industrial shapes surrounding the quay and beyond at Minehead. It is little surprise then that the sea and tides, and the industrial areas and vacant lots surrounding all ports have had a strong influence on her work. For the 2012 b-side Festival, Day’s work will appear on large poster hoardings placed strategically – and at intervals – on the approach and the exit of Weymouth Station, throughout the Olympic period. Fleeting glimpses from a car, train window, or departing ferry; quays, rusting hulks and oil drums, razor-wire, depots and gasometers loom large, allowing passengers and visitors to Weymouth an alternative way of viewing the town, its industrial architecture and how it has shaped the landscape.

“In these collage works I have set out to explore the landscapes of Weymouth and Portland that are, most often, passed through, ignored or deleted from the collective memory. These are universal landscapes that can be found in any country, on the edges of any urban environment. They are the landscape of arrival and departure putting one in mind of fleeting glimpses from a car or train window or departing ferry where quay, wharfs and rusting hulks along with oil drums and gasometers and cooling towers loom large, questioning our perception of place, of memory and of loss.”

– Day Bowman