CR Blog
Mind the staff
Posted by Patrick Burgoyne, 13 August 2009, 15:32 Permalink Comments (41)
If you live in London, you may well have met Tsehai Lewis (above), or at least visited him at work. He is one of 264 tube staff photographed by Maria Cox...
For her project, The Face behind the Station, Cox visited each of the London Underground's 264 currently operating stations (Blackfriars is shut until 2011). Starting on Friday March 6 and finishing on Wednesday June 24, Cox photographed a member of staff at each station.
"There is more to the London Underground than getting from A to B," she says, "there is a friendly face at every station, often ambiguous and lost in the hurly burly of working life. Many commuters take these people for granted, often giving them abuse, but I have been struck and very impressed by how friendly and important to the safe working of the tube network the Station Supervisors and other underground employees are."
After taking all their photographs, Cox went back to interview each of her subjects to create a biographical piece about them. She has now submitted the work to Art on the Underground (TfL's public art programme, which we wrote about here) in the hope that the body will exhibit her project on the tube network. A selection of these mock-ups are shown here.
John Osborne, customer services assistant, Shepher's Bush. Likes Scarface, BLT's and TGI's.
Stephen Newman, customer services assistant, Elephant & Castle. Feeling bashful about his glasses.
Carole Pierre, station supervisor at East Acton. Doesn't like her trousers.
Steve Rice, station supervisor, Epping. Believes in ghosts.
Tonia Ogunleye, station supervisor, Hainault. Likes cooking and singing.
Olanrewaju Akinbola aka Larry, customer services assistant, Oval. Once saw Rowan Atkinson.
Maria Cox can be reached at mariacox77@live.co.uk
41 Comments
brilliant!
2009-08-13 16:52:19
This is a lovely concept, although personally I'm a little underwhelmed at the photography. Certainly a refreshing approach.
2009-08-13 16:58:20
...ecocrap everywhere and mediocrity is cool.
2009-08-13 17:16:48
This really doesn't excite me, I have to admit I really like the black and white with tube colours showing but there is so much more personality to the tube that she seems to have completely missed. I also can't belive that she went to 264 stations and these were the best of the selection, I would have thought there would have been better ones taken by accident if nothing else.
But maybe I'm missing something....
2009-08-13 17:36:28
Very interesting concept. Well done.
2009-08-13 17:38:41
Awesome, like the biographical approach.
2009-08-13 17:39:46
Not feeling it much here either. I don't find the photographer's gaze very penetrating, sad to say, and not one of these images will stick with me, I'm pretty sure.
2009-08-13 17:43:03
Great idea, and nice format, but the photographs are not very personal. I don't feel like i learn anything about the person that she is photographing through the photographs themselves. Perhaps it's the fact that she has decided to include the tube station signage in every photograph and kept them in colour which i find very distracting. Looks like more of an advert for the station than a portrait itself.
We already know that the staff are from the London Underground through the title and design work on the pages, so why include the signs in colour in the photograph as well.
2009-08-13 18:03:45
These are superb! Didn't know you had it in you Maria (joke). I like Epping - Looks like Martin B & sounds like Martin B "What's a good looking girl like you......"
2009-08-13 18:18:44
What a fantastic effort to go to every tube station.
If Art and Underground don't show this this project on the network they have missed out on a special public relations opportunity.
The photography captures the essence of the individual and therefore by default the human side to the underground.
Great work Maria
2009-08-13 19:49:00
Nice idea, but I think washing out the colour of the actual people diminishes the impact. Also, surely interviewing THEN photographing the subjects would've been a better method? Some of them don't look at all at ease with having their picture taken, and maybe an interview preamble may have relaxed them.
Still a good concept.
I'll be having nightmares about the typesetting of the captions, however.
2009-08-13 20:12:15
Well done Maria! 'Ther Oval' is may personal favourite - I'll keep my fingers crossed for the exhibit!
2009-08-13 20:44:12
superb Maria, well impressed and to think you started out doing Fashion / Textiles eh? oh things have moved on and in such a good way!
Congrats and I hope it does get consideration by the powers that be...
2009-08-13 20:45:39
I love the idea but from a graphical point of view think the type could have been treated a little more sympathetically, it looks like its just an after thought... but that's me picking holes - good luck with the exhibit if it comes off!
2009-08-14 01:11:20
Awesome.
I think it was an fantastic idea and I'm sure you had an amazing time
getting to know all these people.
I know it was hard work for three and a half months but it was definitely worth it.
Associating each station with a member of staff explored the human
side of the Underground.It's a great approach.Things you could do with
hard work and a lot of passion...
I'm hopping to see your photographs in each station as soon as possible.
Oh, and please remember me when you'll become a famous photographer.
Best of luck
2009-08-14 07:30:30
Like it a lot Maria... well done
impressed with personal points about the staff - gives personality to the subject
great concept
2009-08-14 08:43:24
The pictures look like my Mum's taken them with a standard digi camera. And she ain't a photographer.
Very underwhelming.
2009-08-14 09:28:24
Interesting how most positive comments seem to be from people that know her. Hard luck Maria.
2009-08-14 10:25:16
im gonna do one covering the 1, 792 service stations across the UK and Falklands.
2009-08-14 10:43:34
Wonderful concept....to which its execution unfortunately does not live up to. Surely could be improved.
2009-08-14 12:00:05
I love this idea and look forward to seeing them on the tubes...it humanises the tube staff...they now seem more than blank faces operating the tubes. However having the photos in black and white dilutes their personalities they seem very 'ordinary'
2009-08-14 12:25:58
Love this concept... the photographs are beautiful, but I'm not the biggest fan of the map around them. I think it takes away from the photos.
2009-08-14 15:53:21
Very interesting idea and also will be uplifting to tube staff but do agree with others that the aesthetics let the project down.
2009-08-14 15:54:01
Nice idea but would have preferred to have the station staff in colour and the tube as a black & white background.
Promising though and I’m sure the finished pictures will look good – oh, and I hope they spell-check it too, unless Carole Pierre really did sit “oppersite” Jimmy Carr on the Victoria Line tube.
2009-08-14 16:00:34
ii'd be very upset if my image was washed out, in favour of a tube sign, the images are poorly and unimaginatively composed, the subjects look ill at ease and the images offer nothing the viewer didnt already know
2009-08-14 16:03:51
Our Tube Stations are at the heart of London's nerve centre. It always seems so peculiar that they and the people who keep the whole thing going aren't much more prominent and to the fore. This project goes a way to addressing that. Great! Just wish the budget had been a little extended with the camera equipment.
This project could be ongoing - London's hub is the Underground. Interested and intrigued to read the bio stories.
2009-08-14 17:33:12
lightweight
2009-08-14 17:59:36
Fair play to the girl - she got off her ass and did it.
People are a nightmare to photograph, especially people at 'work'.
This is doubly difficult when the surroundings are fairly similar, the uniforms are similar and the nature of the work is similar.
Photographic treatment aside, they all have a consistent look and composition, the people look human, which was the point.
2009-08-14 18:04:17
Great concept!
Photography poor!
Design execution very poor!
Take it back into the studio, have another think about it, then come back and knock our socks off!!!
Good luck!
2009-08-14 18:05:46
Really lovely!
2009-08-14 18:20:23
I think it's a great idea and lovely to interview them, but sadly the photographs as portraits aren't that strong, they just come across as happy snaps, and fiddling around with the colours does not make a meiocre portrait more interesting. Lovely, lovely idea, a real shame it is not executed better.
2009-08-14 19:42:14
Great idea...love the concept...very cool!!
2009-08-15 01:09:26
For a project about the people working on the Tube, why is the station livery in colour? It's a bit contradictory really, because the imagery screams which station it is, overpowering the person who works there.
Also the format is a bit schooly - the first idea for any project connected to the Tube is to use the iconic map.
But other than that, nice idea I guess. I'd expect from a student piece of coursework over a 'proper' exhibition though.
2009-08-15 04:30:07
I agree with most of the comments; the photos look really amateur - crooked alignment, awkward cropping/framing and the coloured sign with b&w looks cheesy and draws your eye to the wrong part of the image.
I don't mind the map idea on the posters but they're too text-heavy, she'd be better picking 3 or 4 of the most interesting items from the interviews (i got bored of reading the same thing after 2 or 3 posters). Maybe hire a copywriter and designer, Maria?
2009-08-15 16:35:01
The idea itself is pretty damn good, even if the execution doesn't quite live up to it.
2009-08-15 20:57:05
I'm quite surprised this made it on here actually. Top marks for effort, particularly if it's self initiated, but I'd have to agree with some of the comments on composition and design.
Years ago, I undertook a design project (entitled 'Working Images') with photographer Simon Lewis, portraying people at work in London Transport (as it was). Simon delivered wonderfully crafted hand-printed black and white prints of perfectly composed shots. This was back in the early nineties and was commissioned by LT, so I'm not sure what's conceptually new here. At any rate, for me, the people at work 'worked' a lot better.
2009-08-17 16:18:07
I really admire you! 264 stations! Well done! Good catch for everyone's personality. Posted by Patrick Burgoyne is my favorite one.
2009-08-19 21:24:40
Personally I would say bull**** to the commenter who complained about colour - black and white is very flattering for portraits, and just leaving the roundels in colour is a really great touch - very unique. I love your work, it's very difficult to get nice portraits, particularly in the dimly lit environs of a tube station. Great stuff and very well done :)
2009-08-27 22:27:49
Brilliant work. I can't believe so many people are moaning about these, but what do I know--I'm not an artiste.
2009-08-28 01:47:32
I love using the tube ..........as a tourist . In my veiw , this sort of project can only be positive , so far as being critcal about the actual photography ............I am NOT qualified . I am a fan of the MOLE , an Aussie .........but the photos and the graphics REALLY work for me.
TIM
2009-08-28 13:18:48
I was at a couple of the stations when you took some pictures of the staff who volunteered, are you planning on putting every station on here?
2009-09-03 15:58:37
Get the RSS Feed
More like this
Articles:
- Blog: Peter Saville and the story behind that England shirt
- Blog: Scare tactics
- Blog: Aaron Ruell at Colette
- Blog: Peter Saville designs new England shirt
- Crit: (Top) secret America:hidden in plain sight
- Feature: The Fantastic Mr Foxx
- Feature: Graduate special: Anna Brooks
- Crit: Data visualisation, 17th-century style
8839
Most recently commented
| Peter Saville and the story behind that England shirt (11) |
| Tipp-Ex's interactive Hunter Shoots A Bear film (10) |
| D&AD Sharp'ner: Art of the Fanzine (3) |
| RIP Corinne Day (8) |
| Customer service, SNCF style (6) |
Most read
| Peter Saville designs new England shirt |
| Carnovsky's RGB wallpaper |
| Where Children Sleep |
| Hastings Council's anti-dog-poo campaign |
| RIP Corinne Day |
Subjects
| Advertising | (717) | |
| Art | (230) | |
| Books | (152) | |
| Digital | (241) | |
| Graphic Design | (654) | |
| Illustration | (332) | |
| Magazine / Newspaper | (114) | |
| Music Video / Film | (536) | |
| Photography | (224) | |
| Type / Typography | (147) |
