Jack Lowe is a documentarist using photography, audio recordings and film to make and share the story of ‘The Lifeboat Station Project’, his 8 year journey to all 238 RNLI lifeboat stations on the coast of the UK and Ireland.
The earliest seeds of this project were sown in Jack’s childhood, when his love for lifeboats began. Much later in life, after a career in photography, Jack found himself searching for a change in direction, something that would take him away from sitting in front of computers all day!
He considered what he felt most passionate about and wrote these words on a piece of paper:
-
Photography
-
Lifeboats
-
The Sea
That scrap of paper, along with a lot of thinking, dreaming and planning, led Jack to the idea of travelling to all 238 RNLI lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland to photograph them.
By visiting every RNLI Lifeboat Station in the UK and Republic of Ireland, Jack is creating an unprecedented archive, preserving a vital aspect of our island nation’s culture for future generations.
The project is the first time anyone has tried to create a complete photographic record of every single RNLI lifeboat crew, and it soon became noted for its enormous historic and cultural significance.
Jack photographs and interviews the lifeboat volunteers he meets along the way but there’s a twist!
Travelling in his mobile darkroom, a decommissioned ambulance called Neena, Jack uses Victorian photographic techniques.
Using a process known as wet collodion, Jack is crafting unique hand-made photographs on glass, capturing the view from each station and the waters protected by the RNLI crews.
Each glass plate, known as an Ambrotype, is a beautiful standalone unique artwork.
As well as the view from each station, he also makes photographs of the Coxswains and helms, the women, mechanics and, of course, the crews.
After 150 stations and over 5 years working on the coast, Jack’s station visits came to an abrupt pausewhen the Prime Minister announced the first social distancing restrictions on 16th March 2020.
The Lifeboat Station Project remains Jack’s full-time occupation and he’s eager to return to the coast as soon as restrictions allow, currently aiming to pick the journey up again in September 2021.
All-in-all, The Lifeboat Station Project has become much greater than Jack’s initial idea and vision, a journey which he now refers to as his life’s work.
In a landmark moment for both Jack and The Lifeboat Station Project, the National Library of Wales recently acquired twenty of his limited edition prints for the National Collection of Welsh Photographs.
The collection houses over 800,000 photographs connected to Wales. These range from works by pioneering photographers from the earliest days of photography to portfolios by contemporary practitioners of the art.
Will Troughton, Curator of Photography, says of the acquisition:
“The National Library of Wales are delighted to add a selection of these stunning portraits and landscapes to our collection where they will sit alongside works by some of the greats of photography.”
A further selection has been purchased by Martin Parr for the Martin Parr Foundation.
Photographs from the project have also been displayed at The National Library of Wales, Perth Museum, Poole Museum and the Great North Museum for the Great Exhibition of the North in 2018.
www.lifeboatstationproject.com
