Ray’s Rubbish

We moved in March 2019 to a house with a long garden that had been neglected for 15 years of being rented out. 2019 was a busy year – we did some work on the house and some clearing and planting in the front garden. The two sheds we inherited were full of rubbish from the owners in the 80s / 90s so we cleared them and also took down the dilapidated greenhouse.

Then came 2020 and with it a diagnosis of breast cancer. I had my operation two days after the start of the first lockdown. It was a tough time against a backdrop of fear and uncertainty for everyone. I spent a lot of time in my treatment and recovery sitting in sunny spots in the garden. This slow time changed my relationship with the garden and my thoughts and plans.

We cleared an overgrown hedge and discovered a raised section in the far-right corner of the garden made of breeze blocks underneath. Rather impulsively we decided to level this space so started to dig. We were still digging a month later… it quickly became apparent that this was used as a rubbish dump by the person who owned the house up til the early 90s. We found out from our neighbour that he was called Ray so the project to remove Ray’s Rubbish began.

I reckon we had about 4 skip loads of rubbish removed from the garden. For me there was some kind of link between my recovery from cancer treatment and clearing the rubbish and nurturing the garden. It was a therapeutic process, but incredibly hard work.

I spent time photographing the objects that we’d dug up and decided to keep some. One of my favourites was the Slimline Shandy drink can that was intact but a bit battered. The competition to win a £1 record token on the can was dated 1985 so this was a survivor of 35 years. I’d been looking for a way to make my photos into a different medium so when I came across Eastside Print Studio in 2021 I signed up for a screenprint course. I took my Slimline Shandy photo and spent the course learning how to convert it into the correct format to make a photo stencil and printed various versions. The print is A3 so the can is much larger than in real life. This print combines my love of objects with a history, the discovery process, the vintage graphics and made me realise that screenprinting and the friendly community around it is where I belong.

Slimline Shandy Can 1985. You could win a £1 record token