Meadow Well: An English Estate

Steve Conlan

Late 80s / early 90s documentation of the North Shields housing estate, formerly known as The Ridges, developed in parallel with the making of Amber’s film Dream On.

Conlan was commissioned by Side Gallery in 1988, when the estate was dealing with over 80% unemployment, high levels of crime and deteriorating housing stock. He explores the concerns and the ways in which the community came together to deal with them. It includes the response to the Poll Tax and tenants’ participation in the demonstration in London in 1990. 10 years before Dream On, the estate was the setting of Amber’s / Tom Hadaway’s film The Filleting Machine. The exhibition was one of the major photography projects to have been developed out of Amber’s 5 year residency in North Shields.

All images © Steve Conlan

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