Manholes…manhole covers to be more accurate. Big cast iron drain covers found in the urban and suburban landscape in the road, the pavement or the green beltways. They are to be found in every country around the world, doing what they do in their own unique way and are oblivious to most humans who go about their business, unaware of the originality and beauty within the design, and the industrial heritage that gave birth to them.

I started collecting images of them after arriving in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 2018. My original intention was to explore the old practice of brass-rubbing and transfer my skills to doing similar works using manhole covers. In the end I resorted to having my own photographs of manhole covers enlarged to real size which is around 600mm square or circular, overlaying them with tracing paper and creating direct black ink drawings. The image would then be printed in reverse, white on black again, then colour added using pencils and felt tips.

I enjoyed this process immensely and began to diversify on the original design and create my own unique manhole covers indulging in my love of psychedelia and patterns. One of these images was chosen to be part of an exhibition at Platform Arts Gallery here in Belfast and became my first, and possibly only work, printed, framed and exhibited. My final remaining process for this work is to have some of my manhole covers becoming a permanent part of the cityscape as I have now found the relevant non-toxic materials.

a new perspective on manhole covers • 2020