The cleaner and friends

When deciding what to research of the people of Salford I wanted to stay hyper local to the museum, so I chose Pendleton shopping Centre. A small but busy shopping centre ten minutes walk from the museum.

This work was made while contemplating on the work of the cleaners that I had been watching working. I based it on a painting I had seen in the Fitzwilliam museum in Cambridge, to where I had escaped from a very dry conference on the philosophy of aesthetics the month prior. I had been wondering around the Fitzwilliam, without aim, as I tend to do, and suddenly floated into a room of extraordinary beauty, subtle golds and reds on icons filled the walls of the gallery.

I thought of that room as I pictured the cleaners and three slightly bored people getting in their way and wondered how I could depict their lives.

The three loiterers had been wearing nightwear or clothing that indicated sofas, slippers, cups of tea, maybe biscuits and cakes, too bored that day to bother getting dressed for it, or perhaps they just had the good sense to be comfortable as they sat.

The cleaners were very interesting to me for other reasons. During my research around Britain, if I want to find out what may be happening in any given place, I will ask the cleaners or receptionists. Invariably, they are quietly working away, their views not of interest to the people that are in charge, full of observations and knowledge. The precinct was no different. As is often the case when I work, people getting on with their lives and work, without fanfare, usually have a good insight in to how things work.