The Pigs - #Uppapigs

The publication 'The Pigs' foregrounds Ken Grant’s engagement with the photographic representation of former working-class communities in Britain. It considers the legacy of acts that have brought the post-industrial age to bear in regions formerly dependant on heavy industries. Coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the miners’ strike, the research expands its geography from Liverpool, to consider the English Northeast and the South Wales Valleys. Through publications, exhibitions and collaborations within communities, the Pigs is the first output drawn from a long term research engagement in Newbridge, South Wales. Newbridge Town AFC are a football club comprised of residents of the former industrial region of Newbridge South Wales. Using football as a conduit, this research extends Ken Grant's engagement with working-class communities, to consider the support and cohesion found amongst those associated with the team. As a support structure, the team, its management and the wider family networks have become a cohesive and positive presence in the region. These photographs relate that cohesion and also contextualises the local environment from which the players are drawn. The landscape photographs foreground the valley terrain which serves as a characteristic of South Wales whilst it might also be seen as one of the qualities that encourages the community's identity and its parameters. This is the first stage in ongoing research which will progress over the next years with oral histories and other additional accounts. In August 2024, 150 copies of the publication were distributed amongst the players, families and supporters of the club. The research completed here primes further photo-elicitation field work that will continue in 2025-26 as part of this long-term study