Sunderland

East wall, platform level

2010

For the bays along the station’s east wall, facing Platforms 1 and 2, Julian Germain has created a poignant photographic essay. It is a reflection on the experience of everyday travel through the objects people take with them and sometimes forgetfully leave behind. Each of his 41 images represents an item he selected from those found, by passengers and Metro staff, and handed in to the lost property office of the Tyne & Wear Metro.

The lost belongings were then photographed in the environment where their owners last saw them, in train carriages and stations in and around Sunderland. The images, enlarged to an architectural scale, reveal delight in the textures and colour of commonplace things and their immediate surroundings. Together they hint at many stories, opening doors into the everyday lives of people who use Metro and the worlds they inhabit. Julian Germain offers a thought-provoking perspective on the posessions we carry with us on our journeys.